


Paradigm Shift

by thehappyfangirl



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-08
Updated: 2013-04-10
Packaged: 2017-12-07 20:25:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/752714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehappyfangirl/pseuds/thehappyfangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gibbs' life as a werewolf is turned upside down when he sniffs out Tony's attraction to him. This story runs parallel to canon and diverges well before "Hiatus", but incorporates other characters from Gibbs' canon history.</p><p>This is co-written with the lovely piwrit_queen on LJ and pirate-rhino on Tumblr. She brings out the best in my writing!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

The first time Gibbs smelled Tony's arousal focused on _him_ , the wolf within stirred and took notice.

The scent of Tony's arousal was nothing new; he knew it as well as he knew his own. Nearly every time a pretty face walked by, or he had a chance to interview a single witness, he caught traces of it here and there. 

But that first time, the time where there wasn't anyone else around to catch his eye, it was in the car after a foot chase, after they'd handed the perp off and they were on their way back to the Navy Yard.

The wolf liked foot chases. It let him stretch his legs and enjoy the rush of the _hunt_. True, the wolf couldn't kill the ones he caught, but the thrill of it kept him satisfied between the moonrises, and that kept the wolf _and_ Gibbs happy.

Until he wound up in a car with Tony afterwards, the other man's arousal so strong that Gibbs couldn't shut it out. He opened the window and turned enough towards the wind that the wolf curled back up...but now he was keeping one ear pricked, one eye open for when Tony got close enough again.

Two weeks later, when the moon rose full and the wolf ran free again, he may have tasted the rabbit's hot blood, but when he woke, naked and bloody and curled up with his ragtag pack of near-strangers, it was with the remembered scent of Tony in his nose.

***

Since Tony had pounced on the man back in Baltimore, he’d known the man was psychic. 

A bit of that foreknowledge was part of the reason Tony’s kept strolling into the Agent Application office, the other part, was of course, the hottie behind the desk. 

He always seemed to know things before Tony did, and Tony was no slouch when it came to putting things together. When he did manage to surprise him (which he fought hard and dearly for those shining moments, those ‘atta boys’) Gibbs seamlessly integrated the knowledge and made it work for them.

He’d thought that maybe it was his experience, but as time had passed, he knew it was the man. He knew when Tony was staring too hard at a skirt to pay attention without even looking. 

But Tony still had one secret, that he guarded close and jealously.

That Gibbs couldn’t find out about. Sometimes he was afraid he knew anyway. Sharp blue eyes would catch his own once in a while, and it sent a little lick of fear to douse the arousal. Because along with his psychic ability, he’d started to notice everything else as well. 

Gibbs was smart, and strong, and no-nonsense. He was honest, sly, and ruthless topped with a slice of heart-stopping hot. 

And Gibbs always said, the best way to keep a secret was to tell no one.

***

Just as his pack seemed to change monthly, his team did as well. Viv moved on and Pacci came in to work with both him and Balboa. He and Tony continued to run together, with far too many moments that attracted the wolf's attention.

Sometimes it was outside Interrogation, after a long session resulted in a confession and a celebratory beer. Just one, or he knew the wolf would force his hand.

Another time was in the elevator, where there was no window to blow the scent away and he had to bite the insides of his cheeks to keep from turning around and kissing him right there.

There was the stressful few days that Tony stayed over when his apartment's boiler was out. That had been so close to the full moon he'd almost thrown Tony out on his ear as the wolf howled at the swelling moon.

Any earlier in the cycle and he might have dragged him back in, and the night the pack ran he was the one that brought down the young buck for the feast.

Then a body turned up on Air Force One and they met Agent Kate Todd, and the way she stood up to him and Tony had him smelling another opportunity. She would be a good addition.

And maybe she could take Tony's mind off him. Or his mind off Tony.

His wolf hadn't felt this way about anyone before (he assumed, with before-bite hindsight, that the wolf would have loved Shannon as he had, would have protected Kelly with tooth and claw). It had barely stirred when he'd been with any of his wives. Even when Diane had moved on from him to Tobias, the only reason the wolf stirred was to warn a packmate about her. Fornell had seen an opportunity that wasn't available to females of their particular race, and now had a beautiful daughter to love and protect. 

Stephanie had barely pinged the wolf's radar, but Tony....

Mike had laughed when he asked about mating after he'd guided Gibbs through the pain of that bite and the changes at followed, and smacked him on the side of the head. _Jesus, pup, you got a lot to learn. Mates are fairy tales. This is something you make the most of instead of waitin' for your Disney princess. You find people you like. You keep 'em near you. That scrappy pup inside'll tell you who they are._

Yeah. Kate would be a welcome addition while he tried to muzzle the wolf around Tony.

***

Kate was fun, too serious sometimes, but fun. She gave him as good as she got, and Gibbs really liked her, even if he didn’t get her sometimes. 

Tony was there for the in-between. And Gibbs seemed more relaxed. The more they bickered, as long as it was down to an ignorable decibel, the better he was. Maybe their stint together had been harder on his Boss than he thought. 

It made him frown a little to think that, but they’d kept busy, and he’d figured out quite a bit about Gibbs over the year they’d worked together. 

Caffeine was a must. Anything but coffee was sneered at but acceptable in an emergency. When it got crazy, and Gibbs was on the scent of their perp, he didn’t eat unless Tony brought it to him. 

He didn’t like overnight guests. _Especially_ ones that borrowed t-shirts. Or spoke before the third cup of coffee. He didn’t drink with his team. Maybe one beer to show solidarity, but never more.

And... well... he’d never share _this_ bit of info but... Gibbs was like a woman. His moods went in cycles, kind of. Tony did the runaround for the worst of it, learned to keep the stupid or hapless out of Gibbs’ way, but... if he complained to his hairdresser about his boss’ PMS... well, it wasn’t that far off. 

***

Gibbs and his wolf had a blood debt to pay with the bastard that shot Gerald and held his people hostage. He'd gotten a nose full of his scent, snarled at his smile before the bullets slammed into his vest, torn into his arm.

The pain alone would have made him change, run and kill.

But then Tony was pressing the mask over his face and trying not to let him sit up. It was Tony's scent that calmed the wolf this time, eased the bloodlust and let him simmer instead of boil.

But he still had the bastard's scent, and he would get him. He'd smelled his scent on Kate too. Stronger. Easier to commit to memory with his smile.

As soon as he'd healed, he ran lone one night, let the wolf chase _something_ down to keep him from taking his frustrations out on his team. Whenever he got too frustrated from staring at the flashing monitors, he went to the woods and ran, and on the full moon, he ran behind the others, letting them have their kill as he'd already done more than once that month.

Until the bastard had taken Kate while Tony had been chasing a damned skirt, and the wolf howled for justice. _I want his name! I want it TODAY!_

***

Kate _liked_ the bastard. Or was charmed, or... whatever. And maybe Tony’d been distracted by the blonde and her sweater-assets, and he’d beat himself up for it later, because no one could punish him like he could punish himself, but...

That guy? Terrorist? Gerald’s shooter? _Gibbs'_ shooter??

He wanted to sink the kill shot himself. His heart had stopped for just a minute, that second filled with gunfire and a smoke bomb... he’d been so glad to see him breathing they didn’t check the body till after Tony’d kept him still, made sure that damn mask was over his face.

When he’d gone to his house after, the days following, it had been dark. No lights, no noise, and he’d gone home, to drink it down, to run every resource he had dry to get that name because Gibbs had been disappointed. In his performance.

Hell, Tony had been too. But those words chased him on his workouts, on his time at home, and with every single task he performed. Gibbs was starting to scare him, really scare him for the first time. He tried to keep the others from it, especially Tiny Tim, because this was more than a mood swing. This was someone threatening Gibbs’ team. 

***

Now Gibbs had a name to put with a scent, a face, a smug smile. He still hadn't caught the bastard, but this time it was _Tobias_ who stayed his hand. Ari was a mole, deep cover, for information on terrorist activity.

He'd put two in his shoulder anyway, and the next night the pack ran, he snapped and bullied Tobias away from the kill, made him wake up hungry and frustrated for his sin. Gibbs may have understood, but the wolf wanted blood.

They returned to business as usual. There was a new member now, one that seemed properly afraid of the the wolf's eyes behind his own where Tony continued to smile and chatter and frustrate. While he wouldn't trade that frustration for anything else (the arousal hadn't abated either), it was nice to have someone that jumped when he barked.

Still, the boy was earning his stripes with the team, and his computer help had been invaluable when tracking down the little things that had the wolf snorting and snapping at the annoying tech. Tony had taken him under his tutelage in typical frat-boy hazing with a streak of caring in the quiet moments that only a few had seen.

That he'd seen, more than once during their time together.

He'd had to leave Tim in charge while he tried to track down Tony when he'd disappeared with a fugitive. The boy had done well, but even if he'd failed spectacularly he wouldn't have cared, because he hadn't been longer than a day or two without Tony's scent close by since they'd started working together.

The wolf had been closer to the surface then; he'd missed Tony too, and when Gibbs finally saw Tony in that car, with White's blood scent almost overpowering everything...he'd taken Tony home himself, leaving him reluctantly only when he'd insisted. Even then, he'd rested his hand on the back of Tony's neck and squeezed, flaring his nostrils for one last inhale before he left.

***

Tony wanted to put the White debacle behind him as soon as possible. He felt foolish and tired, and fucking sad about the entire thing. He should have known. But instead, he’d been drugged and then he’d had to use his firearm, and he had a scar which he really hated... 

And Gibbs. Making up for that helpless crack in the car. Pulling him along, to the hospital, then to his house, into a shower he didn’t have to clean the blood out of when he was done, and into sweats that were just an inch too short. 

But soft. Really soft. 

He kind of loved Gibbs’ house. When he’d stayed there (broken boiler, broken air conditioning in August, fumigation, no he didn’t make any of those up) it was nice. It was tidy, and warm and the floors were cool but never cold, glossy hardwoods. 

Gibbs had books everywhere, too. On tables, next to the couch, on the counter in the kitchen. 

The basement had a couple blankets down there, now. He’d transferred them down when he’d found Gibbs sleeping under some monstrosity he was building. 

He’d tried to wake him, but the snarl had been impressive, and he didn’t have coffee to bait him with, so he just covered him and went back to his guest room.

But it was different, after White. He needed to be alone. To lick his wounds, to find his own face again in the mirror. He needed to have the first nightmare in his own bed, with Sabrina already in the DVD player. 

Because the only other real option was waking up with his nose in someone’s skin, and Gibbs wasn’t an option. Not with those eyes that saw too much.

***

Gibbs was glad to see his team settling, working more seamlessly. While he still growled and barked at them when it was necessary, it was satisfying both for him and the wolf to see them acting as a pack. 

The pack he ran with in the woods wasn't always settled this way. The transient nature of the political city didn't lend itself to it. There were a few core members, like him, that directed the pack, let the newcomers know not to cause trouble. Gibbs and his wolf were content to let Bob and Janice, the husband and wife from Manassas, keep order; he had enough of being in charge in his human life.

And now his human pack had finally found their groove.

The relaxation came with a price, however. Without the focus on his team to make sure they were covering all the angles of a case, he once again began to notice the moments where Tony watched him. Guarded him.

Wanted him.

After the White case, it was pointless to deny that the feeling was mutual, but Tony at least couldn't smell just how strongly those feelings were returned. He also couldn't know just how torturous their combat training sessions had become the more the wolf sat up and noticed.

He couldn't pair the more experienced Tony with Kate or Tim, but good lord, every time he pinned Tony to the mat, saw his throat bared...

Those were the nights he woke up grinding into the sheets, grunting helplessly as he came.

It was too dangerous to let those feelings grow. Rule Twelve was there for a reason, and Tony was too keen an investigator to just deal with him disappearing on nights of the full moon. 

No. Too dangerous.

So he rode him a little harder. Pushed him at the job, the job, the job, even razzed him when his car was stolen to try and stop those flashes of scent that still gave him pause.

Everything changed, however, when Tony opened that envelope before he realized where the sick, _evil_ smell was coming from.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Through illness and violence, Gibbs is forced to confront his feelings for Tony, as well as tentatively accept someone else into his human pack.

Tony was sure it was a prank. How many envelopes of baby powder had gotten sent to government offices? 

Tons. So he let Gibbs and Kate do the fretting, the motherhenning they both pretended they were awful at, let himself be poked and prodded, and didn’t start worrying till, well...

The strip. When somebody lead-lines an envelope, that usually means business. And then it was quarantine, and the guilt. 

What if Kate..?

And then she was the one lying, and he was so goddamn scared. Gibbs had been pushing him so hard, and he was goofing off even harder, and he hadn’t even come to see him yet, which had to mean something bad, because every time one of his own was in the hospital, Gibbs was Right There. Glaring at doctors, sweet talking or scaring nurses, and always getting him an extra pudding cup. Like it took the edge off being stabbed or something. 

He knew he was going to die. Really, actually, I-can’t-breathe-anymore die. Regrets die. Rule twelve was the dumbest rule on the planet because he was going to die, and he was never ever going to get to call Gibbs on the hard-on he pressed into him when they trained. 

Or that look in the elevator. 

And McGee would never grow up to be a real boy.

And who’d look out for Kate and harass her about her dates and run them through the database?

And more importantly, who’d look after Gibbs? Tim didn’t have the spine for it, and Kate, well... she just didn’t see it.

And then Kate was gone, and it was him, Nurse Emma, his fear and those damn blue lights.

***

Gibbs' stomach churned as the wolf alternately cringed from the sickness they could both smell on the woman and wanted to fly at her for what she'd done to Tony.

He'd known before Tony and Kate had gone to Bethesda; he smelled the green twist of sickness taking hold even then and knew he had to find a way to stop it. Heal him. When Ducky had tried to keep him in isolation he found a way around it, and all but clawed his way out of the hot and sticky suit when their tests came back clear.

Hannah Lowell was too sick to realize just who was staring her down, but she let enough slip that led him to the one who still had that primal fear, the one that saw the wolf staring through the man instead of the gun pointed at his face.

And then he'd said the words that made man and wolf calm. _Suicide gene. No longer contagious._ Now he just had to make sure Tony fought with the same tenacity that he'd shown over the years they'd worked and fought together.

He brushed past the tearful Kate and into the iso chamber and oh god, he looked so weak. His scent had changed and he heard the rattle in his lungs as he leaned close. _Tony._ He couldn't say what he was feeling, how the wolf wanted to curl around him and snarl away anyone who tried to come too close, so he said the only thing that he knew would get through to him.

_You will not die._

And when he didn't, when he was released from the hospital he stayed with him. Every day after work he came over, made sure he took his meds, steadied him during the coughing fits that he knew would linger long after he was back on his feet, and kept him warm and fed.

He'd almost lost him this time. Keen investigator or not, he wouldn't deny his feelings for much longer.

***

Gibbs babied him. It was, for a few days, more terrifying than the thought that he would die. But that order, stern and sure, had pulled him through. Had gotten him home, laid out on his couch, accepting cups of juice and steroid pills from his boss. 

Not just his boss. It had changed the dynamic of them, just slightly. It shifted a little his way, but he only realized that after sleeping for about three days first. He noticed the hand pushing his hair back, the quiet voice calling him from sleep. 

And it was nice. Much better than Abby’s attempt to kill him with a choking hug, until Gibbs had helped pry her away, and he still. Stayed. 

He found that the determination to tell Gibbs, to remind him that they shared the same secret, waned while his own strength returned. A deathbed confession was one thing, but looking at him, telling him...

Telling him what? _I know you’ve been married a couple times boss, but the thing is, I think you want me. Maybe. Like, want me, want me, and that’d be okay, and I think we could wiggle around Rule Twelve, because, really? I think it sucks._

No. No he couldn’t do that. 

And the longer he stayed at home, letting himself be taken care of like that, the more he wanted it. So he pulled himself off the couch, into the shower and down to work. 

***

Gibbs hadn't wanted Tony back at work so soon. He knew he wasn't ready, that even a foot chase would send him back to the hospital with walking pneumonia, but what could he tell him?

Tony, I can still hear the rattle in your lungs and I can still smell the last of the infection in your sweat when I'm trying not to crawl into bed with you. Lie back down and let me...

So he let him come back, watched him carefully until Kate and Tim came screaming back up the hill and the explosion lit up the sky. He strangled on his own howl when Kate cried out for Tony and dragged him away to Ducky when he saw him crawl up and collapse.

As if he hadn't been ready to snarl and bite before, Tobias showed up with news that made his hands clench into fists and his wolf go on high alert.

_Ari._ This was a threat to his team that he could deal with, could touch and hit and kill no matter what kind of intelligence he was passing to the U.S. He wouldn't be denied a second chance at him, and Tobias knew it.

Or a third chance, as Ari foiled the second chance by endangering civilian lives and left him with a noseful of fire instead of his hated scent. 

Then that pursuit and the team's case dovetailed, and they were all on the hunt.

God, it felt good, tracking down their prey with a pack that worked so well with each other and knew what to do without always looking for direction. McGee working hard to stop that rocket and he and Kate and Tony storming the roof of the warehouse to end this once and for all.

He just hadn't expected that Kate's blood would be the scent in his nose, and the wolf howled in thwarted rage as he stared across the skyline, as if he could meet Ari's gaze through that sniper scope.

***

The splash of Kate’s blood didn’t register until her body dropped, smile still on her lips. He dropped defensively, eyes scanning wildly, because while the cop part of his brain was working overdrive, there was a part of him that was screaming his partner’s name. 

And Ari was gone. Completely gone because if Gibbs had been able to sniff him out, he would have been dead. 

And it was just a blur of awful. Of Gibbs being solicitous and _kind_ and bringing them coffee and little Timmy asking for him to come with him. To say goodbye. To look a murdered Kate in the the face, see all their failures there.

It was terrible. And then Ziva _Dah-veed_. She didn’t sit at that desk. Not Kate’s. Not while her killer was still breathing. Not while he could feel her blood on his face every time he closed his eyes.

So if he took the extra time in the bathroom to scrub his face over again... it wasn’t anyone’s business anyway.

***

Gibbs didn't like the way Ziva smelled. She stank of deception and, vaguely, of Ari.

Gibbs didn't like the way Jenny looked at him, expected him to forget their nights together and trust this young-but-canny woman.

When both came on the heels of picking glass out of Abby's hair and watching Tim drifting through the motions and still not being any closer to Ari or able to sit down for any length of time...he saw Tony disappear into the bathroom again, and this time he followed him.

Time to settle this.

***

Tony could feel his hands shaking under the water. Trust Abby to fit in a grope in a high octane situation. She’d dragged him into the only windowless room hours later, and handed him a comb. 

_I told Gibbs he got it all._

So he’d unbraided her hair and ran the comb through it meticulously, because the care and feeding of an Abby was an exact thing. When he was one hundred percent sure, he’d clumsily done it up again, kissed her forehead and gone back to his desk. 

Then the bathroom. He was pretty sure he was too young for ulcers, but they needed action. They needed to find Ari. To kill him, no matter what the dark-eyed Mossad agent had to say about it. Tony didn’t even want to use his gun anymore. All he needed were his hands. 

Could just wrap them around Ari’s neck and--

Gibbs locked the bathroom door, his stomach tightening at the scents of fear/anger/hate rolling from Tony in waves. He knew that, with all they'd been through, if he was going to kill Ari, he didn't want more blood on Tony's face, or hands.

_You know about my first wife, and my daughter?_

I do. I'm very sorry.

He had smelled the genuine regret in her sentiment, the knowledge that Ziva knew why Ari was shooting at the women in his assembled 'family'...he didn't know if he could trust her completely, but he could trust her to finish this with him, earn her place in his esteem.

He couldn't put Tony there. Needed to tell him why, but as he stood there, the words wouldn't come.

He lay his hand on Tony's shoulder, squeezed it.

Tony jerked at the intrusion of his solitude, spun quickly, only relaxing when he saw Gibbs. Saw his boss looking right inside him.

“Abby still okay?” Because he’d checked on her. Because Abby was theirs. And he was tired. He could feel the strain at the end of every deep breath, and he’d resorted to a tiny daub of makeup just below his eyes. Because when he didn’t, he looked hollowed out, exhausted, and half dead.

"She's okay," he said, because Tony worried as much as he did, and said as much where Gibbs was more inclined to keep silent. He frowned, and reached up to cup his cheek, rub his thumb beneath his eye. "Tony, you need rest."

He was about to order him to catch an hour in Abby's lab, but he couldn't, and his checklist ran out quickly (Autopsy: Kate. Lab: Unsafe. Home: Out of the question). "Grab the futon from the lab and bring it to your desk."

Tony couldn’t really suppress the little sigh at the stroke of his hand, or the little lean, but he took it as something he’d maybe earned, just for a second but pulled back, soft smirk spreading over his face, trying to perk himself back up.

“United States tax dollars do not pay for naptime, Boss. Besides, you don’t even have Teddy Grahams or juice boxes.”

Gibbs didn't roll his eyes at the smirk or the joke, but his hand tightened on the edge of the sink. "I need you here, Tony, while I take care of this. Need you to go with the others to the funeral. Keep them safe."

Because if Ziva betrayed them, he knew Tony would take care of them. That he loved them all and would lead as well as he did. Better, even, because he wasn't fighting a wolf for control of his soul.

Gibbs hadn’t been in this personal space that closely for a long time, but he still shook his head, adamantly. 

“We all go. We all lay her to rest, Gibbs. She--” He still had trouble using the past tense. “I already got your suit dry cleaned.” He wasn’t strong enough to carry them all. Not for this. Kate should have lived the longest, made fat, happy, Catholic babies.

“I couldn’t keep Kate safe.” It fell out. It was another secret he never planned to tell. 

"Not your fault." Gibbs shook his head, looked away, then away again when the first glance was into the mirror. "That was my job."

He closed his eyes again, and called on his wolf to give him the second wind he needed to finish this business once and for all.

"But I need you to stay with them, so I can end this." He dragged his gaze back to Tony's. "Please. Go with them tonight. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Tony took a slow breath and nodded. Because when Gibbs asked him, he couldn’t say no. Not really. Not for years. 

“I’m telling Abby you’ll be there.”

His hand found its way to Gibbs shoulder, to squeeze, because he knew where this was going. He hated it, but he understood. Gibbs wouldn’t trust his team with anyone but Tony. And Gibbs wouldn’t trust anyone else with getting rid of Kate’s killer but himself. 

He swallowed hard, once. “Be careful, Boss.”

Gibbs let out a low breath when Tony relented; nobody needed another fight tonight, except for one man, who should already be counting his minutes left on earth. "Thank you."

And, because he couldn't let this go without at least giving him something other than his word, he leaned in, touched his face again and kissed his cheek. "I'm telling _you_ , I'll be there."

He would keep his word. Tony needed more people in his life that wouldn't let him down...and he needed Tony in his life, period.

Tony’s breath caught, feeling the dry rasp of Gibbs’ lips against his face, and he froze, eyes open and watching him as he pulled back. 

Gibbs didn’t promise lightly. And Tony couldn’t really afford to think about...

“We’re talking. About...” He gestured between them vaguely and frowned. “When we get home. I don’t... have the brain power right now, frankly. Kill him, Gibbs. I’ll take care of the family.”

Gibbs squeezed Tony's shoulder and nodded, took one last pull of Tony's scent to take with him. "Count on it." He turned and left quietly, and went to find Ziva now that he'd left his family in safer hands than Jenny.

He took comfort in the uncertainty he smelled on her; whatever she believed bout Ari before, she was doubting it now, and he needed that doubt if they were both to survive the dawn. 

And when the time came, when he stared him down and waited, the hand of vengeance wasn't even his despite the wolf wanting to taste his entrails. He held Ziva while she wept for her brother and left the cleanup for the others while he caught the first plane he could.

_You're late for my funeral, Gibbs._

He swallowed his tears and whispered his apology, taking Abby's and Jenny's arms as the jazz music played. 

Tony's gaze was a warm weight on the back of his neck. They had the evening here to talk before they had to go back to DC and sort through the wreckage.

Late was much better than never, especially when Gibbs looked, to Tony’s exacting eyes, physically fine. No limps, no favoring one side, no cuts or bruises. 

Same wounds as the rest of them, then.

He caught up by the cars, putting Tim and Abby into a cab together and shaking the Todd’s hands one last time. Tony wrapped one hand under Gibbs’ elbow and pulled him toward the black compact at the end of the parking lot. 

“S’an extra bed in my room, Boss. Can bunk with me.”

Gibbs offered no protests, staying silent on the way back to the hotel. He felt an odd peace stealing over him in the car. The menace had been vanquished, the wolf would have his blood when the moon was full. The rest of his small, chosen family was safe, and the dead had been laid to rest.

He could handle anything else, so long as it didn't involve anyone else dying tonight.

Or resigning.

When Tony pulled into the parking spot he realized that all he had was the clothes on his back. "There a gift shop in this place?" he asked. Touristy shit was still better than sleeping in the suit.

Tony kept stealing glances at him on the drive, but the question made him look up, confused. “No. It’s a Ramada Inn. Abby doesn’t want a sleep shirt from here, I promise.”

They’d made it in last night, had a group hug, and puppy piled on Abby’s bed till the wee hours. He’d pulled rank, insisted on everybody sleeping at least five hours before meeting up again. As a show of faith, he’d packed double, adding the clothes he’d borrowed from Gibbs over the years.

“It’s over?” he asked, leading them down the hall to his corner room.

Gibbs followed him down the hall without additional protest. He'd borrow one of Tony's shirt and sleep in his shorts if he had to. He nodded at the soft question. "Yeah...it's done." Then, after a moment's consideration. "Ziva's sticking around, after she takes the body back to Israel. Director thinks there's still trouble coming, wants to make nice with the Israelis."

The room was pretty average for a hotel room, and he moved to sit on the bed without Tony's bag at the end of it. The tie came off quickly, the shirt unbuttoned at the throat; the wolf never liked anything around his neck.

Tony looked sharply at him, and nodded once. He didn’t like her. At all. “Plenty of teams that could use her brand of... exotic serial pathology.” He slung his jacket in the corner chair and started unloading his bag, anxious to take the suit off. 

It was his very best. The most expensive. Kate deserved nothing less, but now he wouldn’t be able to wear it without thinking of her. 

He threw a pair of sweats and a t-shirt on Gibbs’ lap absently and dug for his own. 

“Director’s got interesting tastes.” Like they didn’t have anything else to talk about.

Gibbs chuffed at the unintended joke, shaking out the t-shirt with one hand while he unbuttoned the dress shirt with the other. He needed soft cotton, bare arms, bare feet before he could talk without thinking about work and death and how he was going to tell Tony that Ziva would be with their team.

"Yeah...she does." He stood up and headed into the bathroom to change into the sweatpants and wash some of the flight off his face and neck. "How are they doing?" he called through the half-open door.

“I think they’ll be okay.” Tony only let himself look once, turning away once that broad back threatened to turn into a full bare backside, because... well... He licked his lips once and changed quickly. 

Soft, baggy sweats, old long sleeved t-shirt. 

“Abby needs a lot of attention,” he forced himself to focus, “and Tim needs someone to take care of, so... they’re sharing. We’ll need to be down for breakfast first, or Abby will worry.”

Gibbs found a smile in the mirror somewhere. Abby always worried, and absolutely needed the reassurance that nobody else was going anywhere.

Which meant that he'd better not fuck this up.

He came out of the bathroom to see Tony in similar attire, and the way he looked at him, his green eyes crowded with grief and confusion...he reached out again, cupped his jaw as he had before, his thumb sliding along his cheek. "I'm tired, Tony." _Tired of fighting when I've wanted just to touch you._

Tony’s breath was a little uneven at the touch, deliberate and strange as much as it was exciting. He nodded into it, stomach turning over in quiet anxiety. 

He’d been tired for months. His eyes closed, soaked it in, and hoped... god he hoped it wasn’t a mistake. Or a miscommunication, or him about to lose everything. 

“M’tired, too.” He blinked his eyes open and looked into blue eyes. They were familiar, and comforting, even if they’d always been a little disconcerting, how direct they were. How much they saw. 

The way Tony moved into his touch moved him even closer, until their foreheads touched, until he smelled not arousal, just need, until he realized just how thin a thread they were both hanging on. He slid his hand around to the back of Tony's neck, then his arm around it and their chests touched when they breathed.

"Don't want to talk," he murmured into Tony's cheek. "Don't want to sleep alone either." He closed his eyes and pressed his nose under his ear. "Please."

He was too tired to be hard, the wolf happy enough for the closeness to want any more than this until they both had their feet under them.

Tony shivered, swallowed hard and let his eyes close. The smell of Gibbs, warm and grounding filled his nose, and he wanted it. He’d wanted it longer than he could put to words. 

And Gibbs, saying please? To Tony? Letting him know it was a choice. Giving him the control he didn’t have over anything else. 

He wanted to curl up around him and really sleep. 

Did they need actual words for that? 

No. Not them. Not without any secrets left. “Let’s go to bed, Gibbs.”

Gibbs tightened his arm around Tony's neck, pressed his nose harder under his ear, and released him long enough to yank the blankets down off the bed and for both of them to fall into it. He pressed close again, spooned himself up against Tony's back, nosed tucked at the base of his neck.

Where a predator would bite to kill him.

Where _nobody_ would bite without going through him first.

"Thank you."

He slept.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs and Tony finally come together, and Tony starts to wonder about Gibbs' "busy" nights.
> 
> ((This chapter is Explicit))

There was too much to talk about to even pretend they could cram it in before hitting the truly mediocre Continental breakfast waiting for them with a barely-awake Abby. 

They spent the rest of the time reassuring, squeezing Tim’s shoulder and making their quiet way to the airport. 

He saw the way Gibbs looked at him when he handed Tony the overnight bag, and he knew he’d be making a stop at Gibbs’ after he picked up his car. 

On the drive, he took stock of himself, and realized that he felt better than he had in weeks. Rested. Aware. Didn’t look as wan in the mirror either.

Gibbs beat him to the old house, but he just let himself in. It was a little late to stand on formality, the way they’d woken, still tangled. 

“Hope you’re at least going to order pizza.”

"On the way." Gibbs called from the kitchen, where he was drying the last of the dishes.

The basement was clean enough for human perception, but it would be a while before the smell of blood faded from the concrete. He didn't mind so much; it was a victory he wanted to remember for a while. Someone had even cleaned the gun and returned it to the drawer. He'd give it another going over before he'd consider it ready for use again.

"Beer?" It was woefully inadequate for the conversation that was likely about to happen, but he wasn't about to offer bourbon either.

“Yeah.” Tony wandered in, shoes kicked off inside the door, and watched him, arms crossed over his chest while he leaned. 

He didn’t know how this was going to go. But it couldn’t go too badly, right? He could still smell Gibbs on his skin when he moved just right. 

He’d heard the bare bones of what had happened, but it was pale in comparison to what was happening right now. 

“So.”

Gibbs slid the bottle across the kitchen table to him, and cracked open his own. He didn't drink, just turned the bottle in his hands.

"Been wanting that for a while now. I'm pretty sure you have too." Another turn. "Slept better than I have in a long time."

He looked up into Tony's face. He'd bared his own throat with that confession, and what happened next would determine the course of both their careers.

Tony watched him, so carefully. How open it was. No room for misinterpretation. Bold and vulnerable. He didn’t even feign interest in his prop, just moved it aside. 

Gibbs was his superior. He couldn’t. Couldn’t. 

But Tony could. “Maybe... we should try again. Make sure it wasn’t a fluke.” Because he couldn’t tell him how long he’d wanted him. Not so soon. Not when it felt so fragile.

Gibbs sighed, passing his hand across his mouth. "Yeah? I'd...I'd like that."

He wanted that, more than he wanted a lot of things in his life. But there were still...

He rubbed the back of his neck, staring into the bottle. "Gotta tell you, I've never done this with a guy before."

Tony blinked. Waited. When nothing else was forthcoming, he finally opened his beer and took a long draught. 

“So... I’m your big, gay midlife crisis? That’s usually lesbians, Gibbs. It’s not... it’s... ya know, um. It’s... easier than, than women sometimes.” 

"It's not--!" Gibbs bit back the flash of anger and shook his head. "It's not a mid-life crisis. It's not a--a diversion or..." He pushed to his feet and took a step towards him. "I'm serious."

It was coming out all wrong, and he wanted to bite something in frustration. He didn't want to talk anymore, not when he wanted to touch, and be touched.

Tony set his beer down, but held his ground when Gibbs stepped into his space. “You look serious. Feels serious when we fight in the gym. But I’m not your ex-wives. You don’t get to get weird if we start sleeping together.”

Because Tony had precious few constants in his life. This had to be one. Had to.

"No, you're not like them. We've been together longer than any of them." Gibbs shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching for him. "Don't know how weird you think I'm gonna get." He snorted a soft laugh. "Doesn't get much weirder than this."

The wolf wanted to be close again. He wanted to be close again, but with the way things were going, he wasn't sure how soon that would be. "I just know I liked waking up with you. I want to try doing that more often."

Tony chuffed his own laugh, because... well, it didn’t get weirder than talking about having sex with your boss. His hands scuffed through his hair and he looked at Gibbs from under his lashes.

“... You always the big spoon?” Soft and low, heart starting to thud.

Gibbs needed a moment to figure out the meaning of the question. "Guess so. Told you I've never done this with a guy."

That look, those hooded eyes had the wolf straining forward. He obeyed it long enough to get another scent of him--

That was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"That'll be the pizza."

The look in Gibbs’ eyes when he breathed deeply had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, and a hot skitter of arousal spark down his spine. 

That was the look he got on the mats, when it was close and they were fighting tooth and nail. 

He was glad for the reprieve when Gibbs skirted past him, speaking in low tones to the delivery kid. 

When Gibbs came back in, Tony could smell the steaming toppings, one for him, and one for Gibbs. 

And god knew, for Tony, he’d already been immeasurably patient. It was running out like the last bit of sand in an hourglass. 

“Know what the best thing about pizza is?”

Gibbs glanced out from the cabinet from where he was getting plates. "Hm?"

He'd been glad for the distraction, even if whatever look Tony put in his eyes had disconcerted the delivery kid.

Tony reached for his hand, fingers closing around his wrist when the plate was on the counter, and tugged him, stepping closer, into his space, because if he was the only one who’d done this dance before... 

He had no problem jump-starting whatever this was.

“Tastes just as good cold.” He took a long last look at Gibbs before moving in, mouth meeting his firmly, done with the tease.

Gibbs' hands came up to clasp Tony's arms, and he leaned into the kiss with a low growl. _This. Yes, exactly this._ This was what he couldn't say with words, but his body did the talking for all of it. He tipped his head up to nudge Tony with his chin to finally, _finally_ taste the skin at his throat.

_Oh my god._ He wrapped his arms around Tony and pulled him close, where his body's response was unmistakable.

Tony gave a low moan of approval at the rasp of his tongue against his throat, the kiss just long enough to leave him a little breathless. Then all the doubt was gone, heat pressed against his hip and his own answered it. 

As much as it dragged the long shudder through his entire body, it wasn’t nearly enough. One hand squeezed into the tiny gap between Gibbs’ t-shirt and jeans, and the other tipped his head back up, Tony’s tongue doing some questing of its own, teeth scraping in askance at the bottom lip he’d spent way too many work hours thinking about.

"Oh..." Gibbs breathed, the slide of Tony's fingers and the light scrape of his teeth setting every nerve ending singing. "God, Tony."

He could smell it, sweat and heat and _want_ that filled his nose and mouth when he breathed. "Please." He wanted to take him upstairs, spread him out on his bed and taste him _everywhere_ , like the dreams that made him come so hard it woke him up.

He moved to kiss his throat again, just one more taste before he dragged them both upstairs.

Tony barely had time to to agree, pulling him closer because god it was unnervingly hot the way he pressed against his throat, mouth open, and _begged_. They tripped all over each other on the way up, getting in each other’s way and stealing licks and kisses, and Tony _finally_ getting to make sure he felt him. Hands quick on his ass, to his shoulders, and down his arms. 

The pull between them was ridiculous. It was stupid to think he could ever have hidden it.

“Gibbs... God..”

Once they reached the bedroom even the soft cotton was too much, too cloying, especially when Tony's hands had started to wander. Gibbs stripped them both with urgent tugs and pulls, thrashing free of his shirt and pants to push Tony back down to the bed.

He panted above him, Tony's scent so strong with nothing to hold it back that it utterly filled his senses with every breath. He leaned down for another long, licking kiss, and then pulled back, one hand at the center of Tony's chest. _Stay._

Tony helped where he could, laughing a little helplessly as he was tumbled back, reaching out to pull Gibbs closer, but stalled at his firm hand. The kiss had his eyes rolling back and he whined low in his throat when he pressed against Gibbs’ hand and it didn’t move.

First time. It was his first... And the thought of _that_. Of being Gibbs’ _first_ sent a darkly pleased thrill through him, and he licked his lips, stealing the taste of him and watched him, lying still, hard against his belly, breathing shallow.

Gibbs licked his lips at the sight of him, and with a last, long look at Tony spread out before him, he began.

He nosed up under his ear again, he and the wolf exploring him, learning him. First scent, then taste, then a soft kiss as if to thank him for allowing any of this after both of them denying it for so long.

He lingered once more at his throat, the symbolism too delicious to resist as he lapped at the hollow between his collar bones.

Under his arms, pulling in deep breaths, hair crisp against his lips and tickling his nose.

Down his chest, head slowly moving side to side to wallow and savor while he could. 

He closed his eyes and groaned as he pressed his nose to the crease between hip and thigh, the scent so potent there, hot and tangy on his tongue with the heat of his cock pressed to his cheek. He knew his own dick was leaving a streak of slick along Tony's calf as well, but didn't care, not now. He pushed that leg up and even nudged up under his balls, stealing a taste behind them before moving up to suck the shiny mess from the tip of him.

Tony had been explored by lovers before, but Gibbs’ thorough, intense, _relentless_ search of his body, had his mouth hanging open, dragging in ragged air, chills over his body, tuned to him, always tuned to Gibbs, his true North. 

He’d never... it was... tickly and sweet and so fucking erotic he couldn’t keep his hips on the sheets beneath them. He kept his hands fisted in the sheets, under the pillow, aware of the order -and it was an order- to stay.

“G-Gibbs.” He flexed his leg against his shoulder at the last few touches, unable to keep the begging note from his shout. 

“Shit! Jesus I can’t--” He pushed his head back into the pillows, other leg wrapping around his hip because _enough_ was _enough_ and he _needed_ and--

He laughed shakily, riding out the last shiver of his seeking tongue. “Sure... sure you’ve never done this before?”

Gibbs dragged himself up from the heavy, heady drug of Tony's need, sliding back up to stretch along his side and kiss him again. He'd explored him, tasted his throat and seen his belly...he reached down to gently stroke him, feel the heat of his cock in his hand. "Been wanting this for a while," he said, rocking his own erection into Tony's thigh. "Just takin' a little time to enjoy it."

He didn't have anything to prepare him, and didn't want to either hurt him or improvise. He didn't want the sting of artificial scent to cut across this....not tonight. Tonight he just wanted Tony, learn what was uniquely _him_ and how it changed the closer he came, how it would combine with his scent when they were both spent and sated.

The thought of that quickened his strokes, and he pressed in for another kiss. "Feels good... _you_ feel good."

Tony started to get lost in the kisses, pressing up into him, hands sliding free from the sheets and circling around him, pressing him closer, moving over his body, taste of him sliding over his tongue, and had they gone _years_ without this?

Impossible. 

“Gibbs.” Jesus, they were doing this. Tony was here, in bed with him. “Thought... thought about this for so long. You feel... ” He let out a little keening moan, pressing harder into him, hands tight at his hips and one moving lower, wrapping around him with a wanton, greedy noise. 

“Better than I hoped. Than all the nights I-- Jesus, Gibbs.”

Tony's moan threatened to undo him faster than his eager touch. He curled one leg over Tony's and brought him closer, chest to chest, both their hands working each other and his nose tucked into Tony's neck where it met his shoulder. "Yes...god, it's--"

He thrust in a broken rhythm into Tony's hand, panting with a little grunt at the end of each exhale. "Oh, god..."

Sex was always enjoyable, no matter how he or the wolf felt about his partners. But this...this was incredible, coming together after years of denying the attraction, to finally have the chance and hope that this wouldn't be the only time?

Euphoric. "God...don't stop. Oh, _shit_..."

Tony kept his eyes open, because he was sure if he closed them... 

Didn’t matter, because Gibbs’ warm hand was wrapped around him, and he could barely hear the noise Gibbs was making, low insistent, almost growling, over the noise of his heartbeat and his own gasping demands. 

It was better than anything he’d imagined, and his imagination was nothing to sniff at. “Oh! There, there there, just--” He broke off, fingers squeezing tightly before he came, shout muffled in the skin of Gibbs’ shoulder, spilling over his fist in long desperate pulses. 

He’d never... They... “Gibbs...” it was rough and a little raw, but he worked him harder, thumb finding that sensitive spot beneath his head while he gave a last, sated little huff into his ear.

Gibbs smelled it, the way his scent changed just before he came, and groaned as he held his own pleasure back to just feel _him_ , the pulses of his cock in his hand, the hot slickness of his release on his fingers and the scent that all but slammed into his nose.

The way Tony said his name _just_ when his thumb rasped across him brought him over, and he let go of Tony's cock to grip his hip _hard_ as he grunted through his own climax.

He let out a low, shuddering breath when it was over, well and truly glutted with him. But there was still...he cracked his eyes open, brought his messy hand up slowly for a surreptitious taste while Tony's eyes were still closed.

Tony lazily soaked in the sound of Gibbs’ orgasm, heavy eyelids cracking just in time to see Gibbs’ tongue peeking out to get smear of his come on his bottom lip. 

It was, quite possibly, even hotter than bringing him off. The groan was guttural, low and pleading, his fingers flexing of their own accord before finally letting go, wiping his hand on his belly, letting it all mix together in a messy wonderful smear. 

“You can’t do that,” he pressed his forehead against Gibbs’ and kissed him, dirty and deep to steal his own taste back. “Gonna set the bed on fire.”

Gibbs sighed into the kiss, eyes drowsy and body loose, like the mornings he woke up with the pack after their run. He curled his toes as if he expected to feel the earth beneath his feet but found only the cotton sheets. "S'good," he said, nuzzling softly at his cheek. "Real good." He wrapped his arm around him and kissed him again. "Thank you."

It felt _amazing_. He wanted to fall asleep this way, in a lazy tangle with their combined scents lulling him, but his stomach growled loud enough for both of them to hear. "Mm..." He curled his lip slightly at the sound. "Worked up more of an appetite."

Tony wiggled into the kiss, pulling a face when the mess on his belly rubbed against Gibbs’, but his body buzzed pleasantly, sated, _happy_ in a way he hadn’t been in too long.

He nuzzled in for another slow kiss, pushing Gibbs’ onto his back and running an already messy hand over his sticky belly. “I’ll get us a rag and bring up the food if we can eat in bed,” he purred stretching against him.

"Sounds good. Perfect." Gibbs winced as the sticky mess started to cool, but couldn't stop the smile when he saw Tony looking just as sex-drugged as he felt. He slid his hand down and swatted his ass lightly, then squeezed. "Go."

Tony landed a little nip, just under his ear before swinging out of bed, tuneless little hum while he tramped downstairs, grabbed the pizza boxes and took a minute to stare at his reflection in the bathroom mirror when he wet the rag. 

He looked well and truly _fucked_. Little smile at the corner of his lips, hips loose, shoulders dropped, wild hair. 

Gibbs did that to him. _Gibbs_... He shivered once, hands straying to the little marks on his body, hallmarks of being with someone who matched him in strength and intensity. Bruises on his hips, drying mess on his belly.... 

He touched it thoughtfully, before scrubbing clean and rinsing the cloth, shaking his head at his train of thought. 

That it had to last. _Had to_ , because they’d both just put their careers on the line.

He slapped a smile on his face and clicked off the light as he went back into the bedroom, dropping the rag on Gibbs’ belly and the pizzas next to his hip. 

“DiNozzo’s delivery service. If you’re not eating it cold, you’re not fucking hard enough.”

Gibbs cleaned his belly and his chest where he'd wiped his fingers, leaving the rag damp and crumpled on the nightstand in favor of the pizza. "You cruising for a tip?" he asked with a little wink at the end, and shifted to make more room for him on the bed.

He ate in easy silence, still feeling loose, lazy and _happy_. When was the last time he'd felt actual contentment? He couldn't think of when, and that showed him even more strongly how stupid he'd been to wait this long when it came to Tony.

He stole more than one look at him between bites, from his long, muscled legs all the way up to his shoulders that he would bite if he could. Later he would give his back the same attention he'd given to his front.

Tony’s stretched, long and luxuriously, old college trick letting him get the most of it, toes curled in. “Got a pretty good tip already.” He stuffed half a slice in his mouth and smiled around the mouthful, wagging his eyebrow at him, making no attempt to hide the way he looked at him. 

He was allowed now. All his surreptitious glancing at work was fine and good, but the real thing, naked, laid out and _smiling_ in front of him? 

He sucked a finger clean, sighed contentedly. “You know it’s gonna be bedtime right? Right after this?”

Gibbs nodded, chewing the crust of one slice and moving onto the next one. "Yeah." The pizza was from one of his favorite places. They made their own sauce that was out of this world.

Tonight it was just something to fill his belly so he could be close to Tony again.

He liked it, the way their scents combined. So did the wolf.

Tony sniffed his way over to Gibbs, and leaned over, looking at the pizza, head tipped to the side. Mushrooms. He only deliberated a moment before stealing a slice and laying back down to the bed, satisfied hum coming from his throat. 

He rolled his head lazily to stare while Gibbs ate, and said almost absently, “Should have done this years ago.” He ate like a starving college kid, but after a third slice, he started sneaking his way across the bed, closer to Gibbs.

Gibbs finished off his second slice before Tony was halfway across the bed. He grabbed both boxes and dropped them on the floor and gathered him in again. "Yeah," he agreed, sniffing lightly under his ear again. "Prob'ly should have."

The rules were there out of necessity. Tony had happily blasted through Rule Twelve, and the wolf responded by practically lifting its leg and pissing on the remains of it.

He couldn't bring himself to object, or disagree. "Not planning on stopping either."

Tony grinned just a little bit at the sniff, amused to be cataloguing his peculiarities so soon, but it warmed at the quiet reassurance that no, this was not a one-night thing. He stretched his neck to the side, letting his nose run along it with a quiet shiver. “Smelling me?”

Gibbs puffed a ragged breath along Tony's neck when he bared it, the wolf growling his approval. "Mm...like the way you smell." He kissed him again where his neck met his shoulder, sucking lightly. "Nothing wrong with that."

He shifted them both down, more relaxed than the hotel room, more inclined to let Tony choose the position instead of his protective posture from just a day ago.

Tony sighed softly, head pillowing on Gibbs’ shoulder and angling for the sheets, kicking his feet free. That little suck wouldn’t leave a mark, but Tony knew he’d be thinking about it for days. 

“Smell better after a shower in the morning,” Tony promised, hand sliding tentatively over Gibbs’ chest, fingers rasping over the crisp hair absently. “Unless you have plans?”

Gibbs turned to nose up into his hair, huffing out a low breath. "No plans." He kissed Tony's forehead. "See you in the morning."

***

It was nice. Really. Really nice. It didn’t change much of anything at work, because Tony still goofed and Gibbs still growled, and they got used to Ziva in their own ways. 

Well, in Tony’s way, which, after a shouting match with Gibbs, involved a lot of snooping and charm. 

And Kyle Boone. Sick, twisted psychopath Kyle Boone, and, well... life. 

So it took a while to notice it, but eventually, it kind of hit him over the head. 

Gibbs was... well, Tony didn’t know what exactly he was up to, but it was something, and it definitely involved Not Telling Tony, which made him all kinds of uneasy. It wasn’t like they kept track of each other every day. Tony had basketball with some old buddies, Gibbs fished sometimes, sometimes they just needed a little time alone after being in each other’s pockets all day at work. 

But there was always a day where Gibbs was ‘busy’. And after putting up with him being such a short-tempered, grouchy ass, Tony was happy to let him be ‘busy’. It was just the next day was a complete turn around. A call, a visit, hands everywhere, warm kisses...

Well, Tony was a man, and he could take so much. And he always caved when it came to Gibbs, who was an incredibly persistent lover anyway. So when it dawned on him to be suspicious, it was probably a full six months before anyone else would have thought to, but at least three months too late for him.

Gibbs started to notice the suspicion in Tony's eyes on the nights just before the full moon, and it twisted his gut more than the wolf trying to claw his way free. For as much as he didn't regret a single day of their time together, this time Tobias was the one who had a warning for him, right after he'd all but dragged him into the elevator.

_Jesus, Jethro, your scent's all over him. What the hell are you thinking?_

He hadn't had an answer for him, but Tobias looked away when he stared. _He's not a stupid man. You'd better watch it when you're on your way out to run._

On those nights he didn't have the patience to be careful. The wolf only had one night to run, and he wouldn't be denied in the name of caution.

But he tried. He couldn't deny the way he felt when he came home after the full-moon run and wrapped himself around Tony, silenced the questions with kisses and fell asleep in another sated tangle of limbs.

This was a good thing. Worth the risk.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony follows Gibbs on his 'busy' nights and discovers a lot more than he bargained for.

Tony waited another three months, a tiny asterisk on the calendar of his phone the only indicator. 

Gibbs left his phone at home those nights, but he sure as hell wasn’t there, and it felt low, and gross to be sneaking like that, but Tony didn’t really know how to ask. Couldn’t think of a world that existed where Gibbs would just rolls his eyes and say, “Jesus, DiNozzo. I go volunteer at an all night puppy shelter.”

Because that wasn’t his life. At all. His life was Rule Nine and Rule Twenty Seven. 

He was just a little nervous testing out his following skills on someone as omniscient and _fucking cranky_ as Gibbs. PMS week, he noted always fell right before Vanishing Day. He’d also re-named PMS. Preternatural Mean Streak. It fit.

He had this twisty, awful feeling that it involved Fornell somehow. Didn’t like the way he looked at Tony when he came into the office and he and Gibbs liked annoying each other in a way that went beyond professional. 

So last month he’d simply slapped the tiny tracker on the bumper of his car. 

This month, he’d followed, parked his car a mile away, and was strolling, hat pulled down low, while he looked around.

This seemed like a Vice op. Like what businessmen did who only let themselves have a raging coke addiction one night a month. Hated it, but he kept sharp.

The pack gathered at one of the remote entrances to Rock Creek Park. When Gibbs pulled into the small parking lot, he saw Bob and Janice were already there, along with Carrie, Jeff and Lisa. He hadn't seen any strangers in the past few months. He liked it when the pack stayed stable while his team was still settling after the loss of Kate and the addition of Ziva.

He toed off his old sneakers while he was still in the car and got out, exchanging hugs and warm greetings with the others while they waited for Tobias and Eric. They were all ready, the scents familiar and the moon rising fat and full, but they all ran together.

Gibbs pulled off his shirt, stretching as he waited. His wolf wanted to _run_ , and run hard tonight.

Tony walked parallel to the small clutch of people that had to include Gibbs. Had to, because that was the Charger. 

… He had to be seeing things. His mind moved fast, putting scenarios together and discarding them just as quickly, moving closer without thinking. 

Gibbs was hugging strangers. Barefoot, like some hippie college kid in the damp grass... He was too close to move any further without being seen, but if he could just see better, he’d be able to make sense of it. 

Was Gibbs hiding some earth child tendency? Was he some sort of... of witch? Wizard? Warlock? Whatever they called themselves, chanting under a full moon?

Couldn’t be, too foofy and new-agey for someone like Gibbs, he thought, scanning, then realizing _up_ was his best vantage point. He hauled himself up the nearest sturdy tree, fast and quiet, thankful for all the years he spent being physical, and the damn summer camps and--

He leaned over the branch he was settled on. Was that Fornell? He yanked the tiny binoculars out of the jacket pocket and peeked.

Fornell.

Was it some kind of orgy? Why were they getting naked?

Gibbs grinned and bumped shoulders with Tobias and saw Eric's car pulling into the lot. His wolf panted eagerly, smelling the night and the woods and...

He paused, hearing the creak of wood and flaring his nostrils to separate the myriad scents of the night. Something warm and familiar and out of place.

He took a step towards the scent as he heard the twisting crackle of Bob and Janice changing behind him, his own hands fisting and loosing, fighting the claws until he figured out what was different tonight.

All of Tony’s experience as a cop, and the literally hundreds of movies he’d seen, memorized and loved in his lifetime did _nothing_ to prepare him for the sight behind Gibbs.

The people behind him... _changed_. They, they shifted, and twisted in on themselves and the sound that accompanied it hit his nervous system like a shot, would be new fuel for his nightmares. 

And they weren’t there anymore. Just... just dogs, or something. Bigger, rubbing their sides together and something primal must have kicked in because he didn’t even register moving, riveted to the sight of... of that. 

But he was moving, up, back, _away_ , his mind shouted. _Away_ , because that was--

When the branch snapped in half, he was less afraid of falling than he was of what waited on the ground, and why Gibbs was with them, scrabbling for purchase legs tucked high and kicking for a hold.

All heads lifted, ears pricked and hackles up, when the crash came from the tree not far away, and suddenly the familiar scent made sense.

_Tony. SHIT._

"Told you."

Gibbs didn't have time to roll his eyes as Tobias stepped easily between Gibbs and the advancing pack. He raced for the thrashing of limbs and leaves and heard Tobias change behind him to growl away the others.

He was the only one left to change. He needed to get Tony _away_ from this before he ended up attacked.

Tony hung by his elbows on a lower branch, trying to get enough leverage to get higher or drop without breaking his ankle and trying to forget about the way it hurt to breathe because he’d smacked right off of another branch.

“... Hey, Gibbs,” he said in a strained casual tone, eyes wide and face pale. There was an entire _group of them._

Fornell. Fornell had... had melted into... that, too. Snarling, and they were rushing, and could... Jesus Christ they were wolves. Could wolves climb trees? The panicked giggle escaped before he could stop it.

"Tony!" Gibbs couldn't remember being so _angry_ with him, and the wolf clawed at his insides, wanting to join the pack, to run and hunt and--

"Get out of here, dammit. Get back to your goddamned car and run, _right now_." He fought the growl in his voice, tried to stay human until Tony just listened to him and got away.

Tony had heard him in all states of arousal, anger at work, and nothing. _Nothing_ compared to the inhuman noise just on the edge of that demand. It tore open a part of his brain that must have been part caveman, because it was only afraid of the dark because it knew what was in it. 

“What the _fuck_ , Gibbs!?” He dropped to the ground, wincing, eyes darting between the... the pack of them, and his, his lover, and boss and... “What the fuck!?” 

"Tony, you have to--" Gibbs strangled on the last word and doubled over, knees buckling and god he hoped that Tony didn't twist his ankle falling out of that tree because he didn't think he and Tobias could hold off the pack at the sight of wounded prey. "Go--NOW!"

The wolf writhed beneath his skin, curled his fingers into claws. "GO!"

He dropped to his hands and knees and his eyesight blurred and went white....

_The wolf thrashed free of the sweatpants and shook, remembering its skin at last. He turned and faced the pack, shoulder to shoulder with Tobias and bristling._

Tony wanted to reach out, to grab him and run because he couldn’t _leave him_ , especially not shaking and weak, but when his body started to twist, he didn’t even pause to pick up the binoculars. 

He ran. Ran like he did when he knew lives were on the line, just this time it was his own. He had too much training to shake when he got to the car, shoving the key into the lock, then into the ignition, but ten miles later, when he finally let off the accelerator, it started.

He was trying to process it, but it just couldn’t compute. 

He slid all the locks when he got home, and looked around his apartment dumbly. Gibbs had turned into a wolf and there were still last night’s dishes in the sink. He felt like _something_ should have been different, something to prove that everything had changed. Tony finally pulled his weapon out of its lockbox and set it next him, and opened his laptop. 

Answers. There had to be some kind. And if there weren’t, there was vodka in the freezer.

_The Alpha snapped and snarled at him until he dropped his ears, his body, tail tucked for his defiance. Tobias added a nip of his own, and he was snarled and chivvied to the back of the pack each time he tried to run up with them._

_The pack only killed a pair of rabbits that night, and he was denied the choicer bits of prey. He endured the snaps and bullying of every member; he'd lost his place for this, and gaining it back would be long in coming._

Gibbs woke in the morning with Tobias pressed against his back. He sighed before he stirred and disengaged from the dog-pile to see that Bob was already waiting for him to wake up.

"What was that all about, Jethro? Who the hell was that?"

Gibbs dropped his gaze and turned to the side. "He's a friend...he was worried about me. He's not gonna be a problem."

"You know how long it took us to find this place for the pack to run. How hard it is to run as a larger group in this area."

His wolf cringed at the anger in his voice and he lowered his head farther, wishing he had a tail to show his regret. "I'll make it right. We don't have to move."

"Yeah we do. Secrecy, Jethro. You'd better take care of this before next month, or you won't be getting the new location and you'll take your chances here, alone."

His wolf whined at the thought of running alone; he might be a solitary man, but the wolf craved the pack. Needed the pack.

"I'll take care of it." He rolled to his feet, keeping his gaze down as he made for the little hollow where they all kept their clothes.

He scrubbed off the dirt in the shower when he got home, and let the hot water wash over him until it started to run cold. He wanted to face Tony as a man, try and show him that he was still...

_Still what, Marine? Still his boss that turns into a monster?_

He'd figure it out if Tony was still speaking to him.

***

Tony had been up the whole night. The shit he’d found online had been laughable, almost. It would have been if Tony hadn’t watched a group of full grown adults twist and warp and change into wolves. 

If Gibbs hadn’t shouted at him like he was going to die if he didn’t make his car. 

_If_ a lot of things, really.

When some of it had gotten too ridiculous to handle (all werewolves have unibrows? Really, internet?) he’d turned to his own type of wisdom.

Movies. And vodka. Just enough to burn, to make sure that it was really there. 

_Ginger Snaps. Silver Bullet. The Company of Wolves..._

None of them comforting. And, of course, Jack in _Wolf_. The knock startled him, and he realized it was daylight. Past daylight, which meant monsters got put away. It didn’t stop him from gripping his pistol before taking a deep breath. 

“Yeah?” 

Gibbs sighed when Tony didn't answer the door. "Gonna let me in, DiNozzo?" 

He had every right not to, to say no and e-mail his resignation and _hopefully_ not tell anyone what he saw last night.

He couldn't just let it go with that hope. "Just want to talk.”

Suddenly Tony was a little irate. He walked to the door and undid all the locks, all six, and opened the door about a foot. Enough to scowl, hard at him. 

“Oh now we’re talking? Now? Because remember? What I said about weirdness? And how you’re not allowed it? And you didn’t respond with, ‘By the way, DiNozzo, my super bitchin’ mood swings come from my raging case of lyc--’” 

"Tony!" Gibbs tried not to snarl at him and he lay his hand on the doorway. "Let me in. We'll talk about this, but we're not having it in the hallway."

He didn't care if he had the conversation at gunpoint.

Tony looked at him carefully. Same hair. Same eyes, same scowl over his face. Same bastard boss that he had been when he poached DiNozzo.

“No weird stuff. No sniffing. No... whatever you do with the... touching and the distracting.” He was angry, but he let him in. 

“Fornell? Really? I just... so much of your interactions make sense now.” He settled himself in the corner chair and watched Gibbs.

Gibbs glanced at him sidelong at the warning and settled into the chair farthest from Tony. He could smell the suspicion, the residual fear from the night before. The shoes by the door still smelled of the forest where he'd seen what he shouldn't have.

And despite all that, his wolf still wanted to touch, to be close, to apologize for scaring him.

"Yeah...he's been--" He took a deep breath and let it out, shoving his hand through his hair. "This isn't about him."

Tony smelled wary. Angry more than afraid. "What do you want to know?"

“I--” Tony jerked his gaze to the ceiling then back to the man - _man?_ \- in front of him. “What the fuck, Gibbs?” When he saw the little tense to his jaw, Tony lifted his hand. 

“No. Seriously. What. The. Fuck. Gibbs. What, what does that mean? What exactly are you and Fornell and the other naked people who wanted to _eat me last night?_ I just... I just stepped out from Law and Order: NCIS and straight into some twisted ass porno version of the X-Files. I don’t like it. I don’t like what the internet says about it, I really think Hollywood missed the memo, but that’s not nice either. So... so what the fuck?”

Gibbs felt a kind of relief at actually being _allowed_ to tell someone about it that wasn't a werewolf themselves. It almost let him forget that Tony could end both his and Fornell's careers if he said the wrong things.

"We're not killers." Gibbs settled back in his chair and forced himself not to fidget. "We can usually hold back the change every night except the full moon. Even then, we don't go after people." He shook his head. "Last night was just...they wouldn't have hurt you."

He and Tobias were just taking precautions.

Tony’s eyebrow lifted high at the last comment. Maybe Gibbs wasn’t a killer, unless there was a gun in his hands, but really? 

“I’m just not even going to pretend to take your word for that, okay? Okay.” Tony nodded, because maybe Gibbs would have tried to stop them, but they looked pretty pissed and pretty slavering to him. 

He ticked them off on his fingers. “How long have you been... whatever? What _are_ you? What do you know about it? When did it happen? _How_ does it happen? What happens now? See? There’s weird, hey-PMS-week weird, and then there’s this. This is fucking weird, Gibbs.”

Gibbs shifted his gaze and gave Tony a look, the same one he leveled at him when he chattered him away from snarling at McGee. This was no chattering smile, however, and he owed him a serious answer.

"Since ninety-one, I've been..." He still found it so odd on his tongue. "...a werewolf. I was attacked on a case, got bit. I can change when I want. I _have_ to change on the full moon." He chuffed a helpless laugh. "You're damned right it's weird, but it's what I am. What happens now? That's pretty much up to you, isn't it?"

He sighed. "Secrecy. It's what we have to maintain if we want to stay alive."

_Ninety one_. “Jesus Christ.” 

_Werewolf_. Tony scrubbed his hands through his hair and scowled. “Well excuse me if werewolf wasn’t my first guess when you disappeared, weren’t at home, and came back all...” 

His face flushed and he shrugged. “It wasn’t my first thought.” 

“When you want? Like... you don’t have to... I dunno, go kill something because you... change?”

Gibbs could certainly understand that; when he woke from the fevers and chills and was able to smell Mike's sweat and the steak he'd eaten last night, werewolf wasn't his first thought either.

But then there was the first full moon, where he learned the strengths and the advantages of having a wolf inside him.

"When I change, I don't...I remember some things. Images. Instincts. I don't have to kill, but the wolf." He shifted in the chair. "He wants to hunt."

“I want to see it.” It was quiet, intense, Tony’s breathing just a little shallower. Because it’d been dark, and a long night, and a part of him still thought this might be the worst hallucination in history.

Maybe a tumor.

_It’s not a too-mah_ , he thought, almost hysterical for a moment, then pulled himself back to center. “I mean... if I wasn’t going to get hurt last night, it shouldn’t matter, right? And I... I want to see it.” 

Because last night had been twisting shapes, and terrifying noises and darkness.

Gibbs looked away, because what Tony was asking was, at least to him, unheard of. Bob and Janice were already werewolves when they partnered up. Secrecy had been second nature even if it hadn't been drilled into him. He'd never changed in front of someone who wasn't...

But Tony wanted to see. And he owed him honesty.

He looked down at his hands, dropped his shoulders. "Tonight. I'll show you tonight."

The wolf wouldn't be kind to the apartment.

Tony didn’t like being put off, and he really didn’t like the thought of not doing this... whatever the fuck this was, on his terms. 

Suddenly, he was exhausted. 

“Fine. I don’t... I don’t understand this. But I’m tired. I need... I need to think about this.” Only him. “I need you to go. Please.”

Gibbs nodded, glad for the day to rest, and he had no doubt that Tobias would be calling to complain about losing _his_ place in the pack by standing with him last night. "See you tonight. I'll let you know where to meet me."

He pushed to his feet and headed for the door, hoping that the sight of his back was taken as a the sign of trust that it was. He had some google searches to do to hopefully find a place to run tonight. And then finding one for the pack, if he ever wanted the wolf to taste anything but skin and hair.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony meets Gibbs' wolf and he learns a little about that part of his world.

It was a different part of Rock Creek, and if it weren’t Gibbs telling him where to be, he’d have expected, immediately, a set up.  
  
Remote, wooded, and Tony stood, shoulders hunched forward and his hands shoved deep in his pockets. He’d slept, a little, and his dreams were rife with crazy images, things that would make Kubrick seem normal.  
  
He hadn’t begun to deal with it, and could feel his heart rate jumping, thinking back to the night before.  
  
Gibbs had done some searching online and had bookmarked a couple of state forests in Virginia, where hunting was prohibited and still provided some room for the pack to run, drink and hunt.  He'd e-mail Bob and Janice as soon as he knew how tonight went with Tony.  
  
As he drove to the other end of Rock Creek Park, he was cautiously optimistic.  Though Tony hadn't wanted to be touched or even get close, there was something about him that still looked at him as if he was a man instead of a monster.  
  
He was still cautious as the car crunched onto the gravel parking area; Tony had had all day in which to pick up silver bullets if he wanted.  
  
The wolf was warier.  Even though it knew that it would run tonight too, it was watchful under his skin, behind his eyes as he got out of the car.  
  
Tony waited for him, and fell into step silently; this at least, was familiar. And maybe he was carrying his personal sidearm, but it was more for a sense of security than actual fear to use it.  
  
 _Werewolf_.  
  
The word had screamed through his head all day and it tumbled around with what he knew about his boss. The man. Tony couldn’t have stayed after Baltimore, if Gibbs wasn’t the absolute highest caliber of Good. Of Honorable.  
  
Or he wouldn’t have spent so much time trying to impress him, to earn his spot in Gibbs’ good graces, learn all his rules, apply his lessons.  
  
Become his lover.  
  
So when they reached a clearing, Tony turned to face him and shook his head with the slightest smile.  
  
“Knew you were magic.”  
  
Gibbs regarded him for a moment with a wry smile of his own. "Wouldn't say that."  He wasn't sure what he _would_ call it, but 'magic' sounded...well, it didn't sound like him.  
  
At any rate, they weren't there for conversation.  He stripped off his clothes perfunctorily, folding the shirt and pants (no briefs) and laying them at the foot of a nearby tree.  He met Tony's gaze as the wolf itched beneath his skin.  "I won't hurt you."  
  
He needed to know that.  "Ready?"  
  
Tony took a long slow breath, and felt the reassuring weight of his pistol at the small of his back. He wouldn’t need it. Gibbs had never lied to him.  
  
He better not start now.  
  
One more breath to keep himself steady. “As I’ll ever be.”  
  
Gibbs nodded, his toes curling in the springy earth as his breath quickened.  One breath, then two...He doubled over, his vision blurring as his hands hit the ground--  
  
 _The wolf shook itself, lifting his head with a snuff at the air.  Woods, but strange ones, and..._  
  
 _He stared at the two-legs that had a name a moment ago, but he recognized the scent and waited. He smelled the gun, too, and a little fear, but beneath that was the friend-scent. After a moment where neither of them moved, he twitched his tail in a half-wag and snorted._  
  
Tony shook a little, watching Gibbs’ body twist, crackle and _change_. In his place, there was a _wolf._ Huge, its shoulders hip height on Tony, muscled, sleek, and blue eyes. White muzzle that led down to its belly.  
  
His breath skittered out and he stared dumbly for a moment.  
  
“Um. Hi.” That impatient noise had his hand raising slowly, palm out. “Really big, boss.”  
  
 _He snorted again at the soft words and paced forward, ears back as he nudged at his hand, swiping his tongue in a warm lick and a gentle mouthing at his wrist.  He wanted to run; the night scents called, and he could hear a rabbit's sleeping heartbeat not far from where they stood._  
  
 _No. Had to stay. He huffed and lay down, nose between his paws, still watching those hands. One move towards the gun and he would disappear._  
  
Tony froze at the _very_ sharp-toothed mouth against his skin, shuddering out a nervous laugh and watched him lie down. He was huge. And that was... was Gibbs. His boss. His...  
  
He sat down on the ground in front of the wolf, head cocked and hands in his lap.  
  
“Jesus. I mean.” One hand scuffed through his hair and over his face. “I... You’re a wolf.” He reached toward his ears, then back into his lap.  
  
 _He watched as the other sat down, reached for him, and rolled back to his feet slowly.  No threat. No gun. He paced forward, leaned in to snuff at his hair.  Close enough to touch and be touched._  
  
 _He remembered that being good._  
  
Tony’s hands went up, startled until the snuffing tickled his hair. He almost swallowed his tongue, heartbeat spiking before he lifted his hands slowly, into the wolf’s ruff, tentative and trying so hard to remember that it was _Gibbs_ in there.  
  
Slowly, so slowly, his hands migrated to the soft, silky ears.  
  
 _The hands felt smooth, alien in his pelt, the man's heartbeat loud in his ears and almost as fast as the nearby rabbit.  Go go go, run run run._  
  
 _He allowed the touch at his ears for three breaths before he stepped back and shook himself, claws digging into the earth as he braced to run, to go and enjoy this second night of freedom.  He turned towards the woods and the night, looking back at the staring man once more, then loping off into the darkness.  Touch later. Run NOW._  
  
Tony dropped his hands the moment the wolf moved, watching him shake and take off.  
  
Gibbs and not-Gibbs. It had smelled like an animal, felt like... like he’d spent five minutes petting a wolf.  
  
He dropped his face in his hands and tried not to ask _what now?_  
  
Gibbs woke up not long after sunrise, curled up in the undergrowth. He tried to shake off the disorientation and felt a pang that he wasn't waking up with the pack.  He was bone-tired; he hadn't run so soon after a full moon in a while.  
  
 _Tony._  
  
He remembered images and impressions, none of which included being shot at or kicked, which he took as a good sign as he pushed wearily to his feet to find his clothes.  Home, shower...then maybe call Tony.  See if he was picking up his phone before trying to bother him at his home again.  
  
Neither his clothes nor his car had been molested during the night, and he drove home before even most of the Sunday morning traffic had started.  
  
Tony spent half the night driving around, and the rest loitering around Gibbs’ neighborhood. Finally he walked into the house, still and silent, and laid down on the couch. He’d have preferred sleeping in blankets that smelled like Gibbs, but it felt weird to go upstairs without him.  
  
He’d make breakfast. And definitely coffee. And then they’d see.  
  
But until then... the last two nights had been taxing, emotionally and physically.  
  
The sight of Tony's car in the driveway loosened Gibbs' shoulders and he pulled up to the curb; more than ever now, he wanted to make sure Tony didn't feel trapped. He sat in the driveway for a little while after turning the car off and before going inside.  He'd seen. He hadn't freaked last night, but there were many hours between last night and this morning.  
  
 _Enough of this._  
  
He entered the house quietly to see Tony asleep on the couch.  He resisted the urge to wake him and instead went to the kitchen to start coffee.  
  
Tony woke, almost rolling off the couch and shoving his face farther into the pillow at the smell of coffee. It couldn’t be morning.  
  
He--  
  
\--was on Gibbs’ couch.  
  
He sat up, debated faking it, and knew that Gibbs knew him too well for that. Best to face it, then. To leave the pistol on the coffee table and wander into the kitchen, rubbing a hand over his hair, then over his eyes.  
  
“Morning.”  
  
"Hey."  Gibbs took two mugs down from the cabinet and poured, leaving room for the amount of cream Tony usually liked to dump in it.  "Sleep okay?"  
  
  
  
He'd washed the dirt and needles off his hands and face and brushed his teeth, but he still needed a shower.  He didn't want to let Tony out of his sight until they talked about it.  
  
“Not long enough.” He rummaged through the fridge that held his creamer and the raw sugar he liberally added.  
  
“... He’s big. Really. Really big.” He sipped his coffee and settled his ass on the countertop. “You look like shit, Gibbs.”  
  
Gibbs poured his own (black, always black) and sipped.  "Was a busy night."  He looked down at his feet, still dirty from the run.  "You see what you needed to see?"  
  
It was a tricky question, but hopefully would give him questions he could answer more readily now that Tony hadn't run far, far away.  
  
Tony looked down at his mug, astounded that his own worldview had changed so much in less than two days.  
  
“Well. I’ve gotta tell you, I’m real glad you’re not a vampire.”  
  
He looked up suddenly. “There aren’t, ya know, actual vampires are there?”  
  
Gibbs shifted his shoulders and met his gaze without saying anything. He hadn't expected the question and didn't want to lie, but he knew that vampires were an issue for Tony.  "I'm not a vampire," he said, "But they're out there. Secrecy, just like with us."  
  
He'd rather answer any questions that Tony had about _him_.  He didn't like vampires; they smelled cold. Dead. Like the bodies in Autopsy.  
  
Oh. Oh, now _this_ was going to be his new MOAS. Excellent. Real vampires, even better.  
  
“Jesus.” He almost asked about zombies, but managed to hold his tongue. He didn’t want to know. “So. Now that I know is there some kind of... secrecy pact or ritual or... Those other guys were pretty pissed off yesterday. I mean... are you in trouble? because I can explain to them-”  
  
"You don't have to explain."  Gibbs stopped Tony before he went too far.  "There's no real pact. Just trust."  
  
  
  
 _And the idea that nobody will believe you._  
  
"They were mad because getting...outed at other times made some of 'em lose their jobs. Had to move. Find new packs, new territory."  
  
Tony looked at him, brow furrowed. “SecNav himself would have to fire you at this point.” But he waved it away for other concerns as his natural curiosity took over.  
  
“Do you see in black and white? What kind of... control do you have? Are you like super fast or strong or psychic?” He had to be at least psychic. “Does it hurt? It sounds... excruciating.”  
  
Gibbs took another long sip of the coffee, moving to sit at the kitchen table.  "At first it was stress that triggered the change. I've gotten better at it.  The only time I can't fight it is on the full moon.  That's the night all of us _have_ to change."  
  
He remembered the early months, Mike's impatience with him.  "It hurt the first few times because I fought it. Now...it sounds bad, but it's--"  He had no idea how to describe it.  "It doesn't hurt as much unless I try to fight it.  
  
"I don't have more strength but."  How to explain it? "I'll never get sick. I heal fast enough that getting shot doesn't stop me."  
  
Tony shook his head and ran his fingers through his wrecked hair. “Wow. I mean...” He thought about their tenure together, and all his worrying. “Well, one, can I tell you how glad I am that you weren’t, ya know, sleeping with Fornell and how much of the... stories are true?”  
  
Because if he was in for a penny, he was damn well in for a pound. And really, Gibbs’ furry side hadn’t been bad. Flighty, and huge, but not bad.  
  
And he’d never let Tony down. Ever.  
  
Gibbs choked on his sip of coffee. "You thought I was sleeping with Fornell?"  He set the mug down before further revelations threatened his sinuses.  
  
Tony flushed, one foot bouncing agitatedly. “Yeah, well, you weren’t home, you always had ‘plans’ and you’re both always measuring at the office, and then you’d come back all... so look. In the real world, that screams I’m-sleeping-with-other-people-guess-who, okay? I made logical, intuitive leaps.” He was pretty sure that’s what Abby called them.  
  
Gibbs chuffed a soft laugh and shook his head, looking at Tony's hands curled around his mug.  "Fornell was the one who warned me about those leaps."  
  
He owed him a few beers and a steak dinner, now that they'd both be getting the short ends of the hunt for a couple of months.  But now that things were out in the open...  
  
He looked up at Tony, met those green eyes that always lit up when he smiled.  "We okay?"  
  
Tony let out the breath he’d taken in and looked back at him.  
  
 _Were they?_ It wasn’t really Gibbs that had changed. At all. It was just Tony, and what he got to see. To know about him.  
  
He slipped off the counter and padded the few steps to Gibbs and leaned down into his space.  
  
“Rule five, boss,” he said quietly, resting their foreheads together.  
  
Gibbs closed his eyes, reaching up with his mug-warmed hand to rest it on the back of Tony's neck.  "Tony," he whispered, squeezing his neck and pulling in the scent of him once more.  "Thank you."  
  
Everything he'd been through since the full moon. The shock, the fear, the loss of his place in the pack...it was worth it to know that it was good. _They_ were good.  
  
And he wanted to be close again.  "Thank you," he repeated, leaning up to kiss him, taste the sweetness of the way he doctored his coffee.  
  
Tony was relieved that this, at least, was the same. That spark, and  the reassurance behind the kiss. One hand settled over his heart, and the other tipped his head back, let him deepen the kiss carefully.  
  
“Rules are rules,” he murmured, unsure of a time where Gibbs _wouldn’t_ be good with him.  
  
Gibbs stood slowly from the kitchen table, sliding his free arm around Tony's waist, pulling him close as he deepened the kiss.  Two nights he'd run, and two nights without him felt like a damned _fast_ with the way his body responded to him.  
  
  
  
He nosed at his cheek to nuzzle at his throat.  "Come upstairs with me."  He wanted to be closer, but wanted it to be when they were both clean, smelled fresh and ready for each other again. "Please."  
  
Tony swallowed, nodded and shivered, realizing some of Gibbs... well... that was the wolf. The way he was taken with his throat, definitely the smelling thing... those were leftovers from a bite, and the moon, and the stranger Tony had met last night.  
  
But he liked being close, still. Couldn’t allow it but missed it yesterday while he thought, which was close to impossible with Gibbs’ hands on him. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he knew... he’d spent the last five years of his life wanting Gibbs.  
  
Slept on his couch last night to be sure he came home.  
  
Maybe it wouldn’t change too much, after all.  
  
****  
  
Gibbs knew without a doubt that Tony hadn't killed whoever owned those legs. If he didn't know because they'd spent the last week of nights together (save for the full moon, of course), he knew because he would have smelled death on him no matter how strongly he might have scrubbed down.  
  
It also didn't help when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up whenever he was in Abby's lab.  That had happened since the addition of Sterling despite knowing that the newcomer respected his chain of command, both occupational and primal.  
  
But as the evidence mounted and Jenny turned the investigation over to Fornell, he felt things slipping out of his control.  
  
 _He didn't do this, Tobias. Someone's setting him up._  
  
 _What are you gonna do, stand up and say, "My super wolf nose says he didn't do it?"_  
  
This time Tobias didn't flinch under the glare; he was still lower in the hierarchy despite finding a new place to run for the pack two months ago _We have to go by the evidence, which is all coming back with us if your team doesn't get on the stick about keeping some. You want to save your boy, your team's gonna have to find out who really did it._  
  
It was haha-funny when the tip of the glove was his, then curious, then distressing as the evidence mounted.  
  
Sacks interrogating him on his own turf was a joke, but when he left, when Gibbs told him he’d be leaving with the FBI, with his packmate.  
  
Being held. Not charged. Not yet.  
  
The panic was setting in.  
  
“He told you I didn’t-- I couldn’t have killed them.”  
  
Gibbs could smell the fear starting to leak from his pores and wanted to snarl at Sacks, or anyone who believed that he would be guilty of this.  "He knows. We're working on it. We'll find out who did this."  
  
He wanted to touch him, squeeze the back of his neck like he often did at home, but the cameras were rolling and more than one person would see the intimate gesture...  
  
"We're gonna beat this."  
  
“Gibbs, what if--” he couldn’t finish the sentence, not just because Fornell had joined them.  
  
“Sacks? Really?” He was irrationally angry about that. “I thought dogs weren’t allowed off their leads in the city. I’ve had better interrogations in a principal’s office.”  
  
This time Gibbs knew the wolf-stare was echoed by Fornell.  "Easy," he warned. "Trust me. Trust him."  
  
Tony had to remember how Tobias helped keep the pack away from him.  How they both wanted him safe.  
  
Gibbs just wanted him safe for different reasons.  
  
Tony took a deep breath, because god did he need one, but it hardly kept his own little snarl at bay.  
  
“It’s a little hard for me to trust anybody right now, _boss_ , someone is framing me for freaking murder and doing a damn good job of it. Suspect list? Oh, everyone I’ve ever met apparently!”  
  
He took a step closer and really _looked_ at him, heart in his throat. “Gibbs, don’t send me with them. Please.”  
  
Gibbs hurt for him, the helpless anger in his eyes and the fear that stung his nose with each breath.  He reached out, squeezed his shoulder and leaned in to whisper, "If you're in there longer than overnight, I'll get you out."  
  
He knew that Tobias heard it if nobody else did, and turned to stare, make it known that he would do just that.  "You'll be all right. It won't be for long," was all he could say for the camera.  
  
Tobias stepped away from the door, giving them both room to walk out before him.  
  
Tony walked with Gibbs, one hand fidgeting his hair into perfect place, face closing off as Sacks made his way toward them.  
  
He didn’t trust anyone, except his team. It would have to be enough for now, and if it was overnight, well... then he could worry. Panic.  
  
And then he saw the cell.  
  
And then he panicked. The McGee visit hadn’t helped and he squeezed the harmonica -when he got out he was going to kill Chip- while he paced, back and forth, back and forth.  
  
No way out. No way.  
  
Fornell came down alone after McGee left, saw him pacing the cell. _Jesus, kid. You aren't even a wolf and you're acting like one._  "Hear the harmonica's pretty relaxing," he said softly, not wanting to startle him; he knew he could move softly. "Soothes the savage beast and all that."  
  
The kid stank of fear, a little bit of despair, Gibbs and pizza.  
  
Tony looked up from his contemplation and looked at the agent -the werewolf- on the outside of the bars.  
  
He perked up with a bright smile, waving a slice of pizza at him. “Hey, Fornell, you want-- oh, that’s right, hard to get a slice through the bars. And it’s _breast_. Music soothes the savage _breast_. Makes people stop crying, which is kind of ironic considering what Bruce Willis has done to people’s ears with this little weapon of mass disgust, right?”  
  
Fornell offered a tight smile. _Stir crazy._  "Hey, I'm just here to make sure this isn't your last meal, kid, though I'm pretty sure Jethro didn't fall for that smart mouth."  
  
He leaned one shoulder on the bars and watched him. "Y'okay?"  
  
Tony’s smile fell at the remark, suddenly still and watchful. “I’ll be okay, when he gets me out of here.” Because Gibbs promised. And he would, though there was no mention of what he _did_ fall for. Because who knew? And--  
  
“No one in here to shank me but myself. Did they find anything? Is that why you’re here?”  
  
"They're doing what they can. So are my people. But no, I'm just here to get a look at you." Fornell took another deep breath, nose up.  "Should have smelled you back in that body bag, y'know."  
  
That was a damned canny move. He'd scuffled with Jethro over it on the full moon that followed for poaching their case.  
  
"Jethro's a friend. A good one, who's stuck eating the equivalent of government cheese for at least the next couple of months. I'd hate to see that kind of thing go to waste."  
  
Tony’s smile brightened genuinely, thinking back to the day he’d met Fornell, and tricked him, too. Good times, even though he was pretty sure he’d bruised his tailbone getting tossed out of that van.  
  
And god, had Gibbs laughed.  
  
“He was being _sneaky_. That doesn’t track well around suspicious people. Besides, he said he found someplace else to walk Mister Wuffles. Said it wouldn’t be a problem, then.”  
  
Fornell barked out a surprised laugh at the ridiculous nickname. "You'd better not let him hear you say that."  
  
But oh, he would love to be there if he did.  
  
"Just don't give him any more grey hair. I'll handle the one, you handle the other twenty-eight days."  He eyed him a little more seriously. "Okay?"  
  
Tony nodded. He’d been taking the care and feeding of Gibbs seriously for a lot longer than they’d been sharing a bed. He leaned a little closer to the bars and shook his head. “Take very good care of him. I check closely when he gets home.” Well, after the sex. Lots and lots. But after that.  
  
"To fend for myself on his less than stellar week-before. Are you a big ball of sunshine and fun, too?”  
  
Fornell snorted another chuckle and shook his head. "Try handling custody arrangements around the full moon, you want to see sunshine and fun."  
  
He tilted his head at the footsteps and recognized the sound and smell of Agent McGee. "Sounds like you're getting sprung."  
  
Tony smiled at the clumsy noise that could only be Tim and sighed. "Thank god. I was afraid in a minute you'd try to hug me. Or... hey, hey, really quick, what's with that whole smelling thing?"  
  
Fornell smiled and tapped his nose.  "The nose knows, DiNozzo. How do you think I knew you two were an item?"  
  
He stepped back and let McGee give him the good news and let Tony chew on just how much they were able to smell.  
  
Tony left, quickly berating McGee for his lack of knowledge, to push what Fornell said back in his head. They’d solve it, he thought, arm slung around McGee’s shoulder.  
  
And then he’d talk to Gibbs about that scent thing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs and Tony continue their work and their relationship deepens, but a face from Gibbs' past turns things upside down yet again.
> 
> NOTE: After this chapter, the story diverges from the canon parallel it's been running so far.

Gibbs couldn't help when full moon nights kept him from important engagements.  This year, the biggest event was the night before Abby's birthday, their usual dinner date.  The next morning brought news of a potential man-eating wild creature in the Shenandoahs.  
  
That news alone distracted him enough to make him forget his apology to Abby.  He'd get there.  Right after he determined that there wasn't a rogue lycanthrope in the park.  
  
Tony knew it was a worry. They’d given each other a look, and in the elevator, he’d asked, tentatively.   
  
_Is that--?_  
  
And it was Abby’s birthday. He’d been smart, planned weeks ahead, and in her excellent graces.   
  
Gibbs, however... Well, it was the moon. And then the morning, and then dead bodies.   
  
Ladies’ dead bodies, and that always bothered them.   
  
Dead bodies, local prejudices and lack of cooperation made him snappish, less patient, even with Abby's thinly-veiled digs about missing their dinner-date.  
  
Until they found out more information, he wasn't going to take the bait like the bear did; he'd smelled the attractant all over the body under the blood and guts.  It _probably_ wasn't a lycanthrope.  
  
He liked to _enjoy_ the woods when he got to go there, on either two legs or four.  Investigations in the woods were tedious and loaded with rangers who thought they knew the place.  
  
Including one that seemed to take a shine to DiNozzo.  She wasn't a lycanthrope either, at least.  
  
Tony looked at Gibbs in the elevator and rolled his eyes. “Not a word. That was... worse than waking up naked in another frat house.”  
  
Even if it was a slap, he wasn’t going to grudge something making Gibbs smile. Because this was worse than his pre-change week. It was _personal_.   
  
_Personal_ was never good in Gibbs’ book. That made it bad in Tony’s, too. Worse, because he had to deal with that _and_ Gibbs.  
  
Gibbs rolled his eyes and cuffed him lightly, then reached over and hit the emergency stop, bathing them both in silver light.  
  
He crowded in close, one hand braced next to Tony's head.  "She wanted you," he said. "I could smell it."  He leaned in to nose gently at his cheek.  "Shut her down pretty quick with that sob story."  
  
Tony’s pulse always picked up when Gibbs leaned in like that. His eyes darkened and it was Just Them.   
  
“Lot of people want me, Gibbs.” He couldn’t help the little push back. “She was pretty, if you like hippies.” His head tipped back, just a bit. “Why? Think she was the one? Should I go make sure I get her number?” He reached, half-heartedly for the stop-button.  
  
Gibbs closed the distance in a hard kiss, his other hand over Tony's heart to feel it as well as hear it, loud in the silence of the elevator.  
  
He smiled when they parted, sharing breath with him.  "Gonna make sure you smell like me tonight," he said.  "You got that?"  
  
He'd make calls to Bob and Janice, find out who ran the Shenandoahs and make sure they had a nose-count of their pack.  His team would do the rest to find the human killer.  He'd bring Abby's present to the Navy Yard and take her out to dinner tomorrow night.  
  
Tonight he suddenly had plans.  
  
Tony shivered, licking his lips as Gibbs pulled back, eyes heavy. “How you gonna do that, boss?” Because he had a few ways. Tony loved them all.   
  
Sometimes it was Gibbs getting off, kissing him stupid and rubbing it into his skin, growling all the while.  
  
Other times, it was Gibbs, on top of him, chest hair rasping together, hands in Tony’s hair, until when he dropped his nose into the crook of Tony’s neck he rutted against him.   
  
There were other ways, but those were his favorite. He wrapped one hand over Gibbs’ belt buckle and pulled him in closer.   
  
Gibbs let himself be pulled closer, bracing both hands now to either side of Tony's head.  He leaned in for an almost-kiss, his nose brushing Tony's cheek.  "I'll think of something."  
  
He smiled and drew back to pat his cheek, his other hand flipping the elevator switch.  "Going for coffee...want some?"  
  
Tony fluffed his hair importantly, glanced at him sidelong, because _bastard_  turning on the cold water when it was clearly time for steam.   
  
He hated the almost-kiss just as much as he loved it. Knew Gibbs got off on the tiny kick his pulse did. “And get Abby a Caf-pow. There’s a few ladies in the Requisition office who’ve missed me. Appreciate me.”  
  
***  
  
Gibbs steered the car one-handed up the street and into the driveway, not even caring that he'd parked crooked as he eased out of the car.  
  
He ached _everywhere_.  
  
He'd already Changed when he smelled the newcomer, and his hackles went up from ruff to tail.  It was _him_.  
  
Alejandro Rivera had been a local drug mini-kingpin over at Pendleton when he'd first joined NIS.  Mike had been quick to spot the local dealers outside the military bars, and they worked with the MPs when they caught Marine clients pushing the product on base.  
  
After a few enlisted men started going into berserk rages and attacking their fellow Marines, Mike 'followed his nose' and arrested one of the local dealers to find out just what was in the new stuff on the market called "Moondust".  The small-time dealer had all but pissed himself under Mike's bared-teeth scrutiny and babbled out Alejandro's name and where he did his business.  
  
He and Mike had gone to the bar and had a few drinks as patrons, but Rivera had spotted them and zeroed in on Mike. The two of them watched each other for a while, then Mike finished his beer, tapped Gibbs' shoulder and they headed out to the alley behind the bar.  
  
"Gotta take a leak, Probie. Watch my back."  
  
The sound of piss hitting the garbage bag was the last thing he heard before a dark, clawed, fanged _shape_ exploded from the back door of the bar.  He stepped between the...whatever it was and Mike, bringing his weapon to bear.  
  
The next thing he heard was his own scream as the creature's fangs tore into his shoulder and claws raked along his side--  
  
Then another shape hurtled out of the night and knocked his attacker away from him.  
  
Through pain-blurred vision he watched the two shapes (wolves?) battle in the alley, ripping and snapping at each other.  After what seemed like minutes but was likely only seconds, one creature ducked low and latched its jaws on the other's throat, bearing it to the ground; it looked like it was over, until someone else stumbled drunkenly out of the bar.  It was only a split second, and the shocked patron stumbled right back inside, but it was enough for the creature to tear free of the throat-grip and run out of the alley, while the other turned back to him...  
  
He closed his eyes and waited to join his girls.  
  
A light slap opened his eyes again and Mike was there, blood all around his mouth   
  
(and naked!)  
  
as he looked critically at his injuries.  "Hells bells, Probie. C'mon. Let's getcha somewhere safe. Gonna be a long night."  
  
Alejandro's throat-fur had turned white from Mike's near-killing bite; it had made for a good target last night when _he'd_ been the one to fight him.  Alejandro had weight and experience on his side, but he'd submitted before Gibbs killed him despite nearly breaking his foreleg in the fight for dominance.  
  
He couldn't deny feeling a touch of human satisfaction at the tucked tail and forelegs; he'd made him bleed from the same shoulder and side wound that had Turned him.  The hunt had been _hard_ after that, though, and he was still favoring the arm as he got home.  
  
He just wanted a shower. A hot one.  
  
Gibbs had left Tony well and truly fucked in his bed, and Tony’d simply goosed him on his way to the moon, rolled back over, and went to sleep.   
  
He’d expected the same routine they’d established in the morning. He made coffee, and set out boxes of cereal because most of the time, the eggs burned, and affection was the order of the day until it was time for more coffee.   
  
What he _didn’t_ expect was Gibbs to limp inside, scratches and bruises all up and down one side of his body.   
  
He moved toward him, eyebrows down and closed the door behind him.   
  
“What the hell, Gibbs!?”  
  
Gibbs shook his head, heading for the coffee.  "I'll be all right," he said.  "Just a scuffle. I'll be fine in an hour."  
  
Or two. Alejandro had gotten in some good licks.  "Should see the other guy," he tried to joke, but knew it felt flat.  "These things happen, Tony.  Dominance stuff."  He didn't want Tony to worry, or get angrier than he was already.  
  
Tony herded Gibbs back to the table, into a chair and got the coffee for him, slapping the mug down with a hand on his collarbones.   
  
He went to the freezer for the bendy ice pack and soaked some paper towels. It was better than nothing, and he didn’t want Gibbs going anywhere without checking him over, at least for a minute.   
  
“Better be or I’m gonna kick Bob’s ass myself.” He tipped Gibbs’ head back and wiped at the cut, already healing on his brow. “Can’t let this stuff heal with dirt in it, Jethro,” he said softly, brushing it away, and over the lines of his face.   
  
It sounded kind of bullshitty. Gibbs didn’t want to lead the pack, and he was more likely to bow out, than instigate.   
  
Gibbs ordinarily would have shaken away the fussing and headed upstairs to sleep it off, but he was pretty sure that had ended at least one of his marriages since the Change. So had the explanation of a mugging or a bar fight, so he let Tony tend to him.  
  
His touch was soothing, and he closed his eyes, gut tightening as he knew he'd be facing Alejandro next month.  He'd ask Bob if he was planning on being with the pack for long.  "There was someone new last night. Didn't take a shine to me."  
  
At least the fight meant that he was earning back the deference he'd had before Tony had fallen from the tree.  
  
Tony smiled down at closed eyes, brushing his hair out of the way, and a few errant twigs to the floor. “But you’ve got such a sunny disposition,” he joked softly, pulling his shirt off carefully, and wiping down his arm as well, holding his hand to keep it elevated.  
  
Turned it one way, then another, cloudy frown settling on his face, cursing under his breath at Fornell.  
  
Gibbs arched his brow and winced as the cut nearly pulled open again.  "Not Fornell's fault."  
  
But he knew that wouldn't be enough to stay Tony's wrath the next time they ended up on a case together.  He gritted his teeth and sighed.  "I started the fight. Not him."  He gently tugged his hand out of Tony's grip and flexed his arm.  
  
Tobias had kept him from killing him.  
  
Tony muttered a few choice words, then settled on his ass on the tile in the kitchen, tugging Gibbs’ shoe off and pushing up the pant leg. “Knee? Or ankle?”  
  
Oh yes, he and Fornell would be having Words. 'He’d handle the one night' Tony’s exceptional ass. He didn’t understand the rules, but he knew when Gibbs was pissed. And he still was, even with a little smug satisfaction on top.  
  
"Knee," Gibbs answered reflexively, then frowned. "What're you doing down there? I'll be fine after a shower."  
  
Tony sighed, long-suffering, eyes cast toward to the ceiling, and his fingers, busy and nimble working up under the simple sweats. “Do you know what a phys ed degree is good for? This. So just... be quiet, and let me...”  
  
His fingers did a simple dig, one at the top, one at the bottom of his knee, loosening the muscle so it would settle right on it’s own.   
  
God knew he’d done it enough to himself after his bad break.  
  
Gibbs winced in anticipation of pain, made a curious sound when it didn't, and growled a little when it actually felt _good_.  He flexed his foot, the pain already lessening with both the healing and Tony's very skilled fingers.  
  
It also had those very skilled fingers closer to his groin than usual for an early morning, and he slid the fingers of his good hand through Tony's hair.  "Startin' to feel better already."  
  
He could think of far better things to do with Tony than finish up with the healing process.  
  
Tony might not have been a werewolf, but he could hear that little slide from grumpy and hurting to... well, morning-after Gibbs wanting him.   
  
He tipped his head into Gibbs’ hand and smiled, kissing his opposite knee and looking up at him, under messy hair and lowered lashes. “You’re so easy.”  
  
In Tony’s world, that was a definite asset.   
  
Gibbs trailed his fingers from his hair down the line of his jaw, tapping him under the chin.  "C'mon.  Gonna need someone to wash my back until my arm's better."  
  
He didn't kiss him this time, nosing at his cheek and ear instead.    
  
He needed to brush and floss before there would be any kissing.  
  
****  
  
Gibbs didn't think anything of Alejandro for a week.  A hot case fell into their laps and it held their focus enough that he'd nearly forgotten about him.  His wounds had healed before he and Tony had left the bed that morning; out of sight, out of mind.  
  
He and Tony had settled into a lazy routine after work. Tony would drive back to his apartment and either pick up a change of clothes or cook something to bring over to Gibbs' house.  There would be dinner, there may or may not be basement and boat-time, depending on how the day went, and there would be sex before they fell asleep together.  
  
It was another week of that before the night that, over dinner, he straightened at the table and listened, nostrils flaring.  "Someone's outside..."  
  
Tony froze with a bite halfway to his mouth, two weeks of good food, good sleep and better sex bringing an almost constant smile to his face. The words had it melting away and looking at their disheveled state. If it was Abs or one of the team, there might be questions.   
  
If it was anyone else, he’d reach for his gun that he kept here, with Gibbs’, since he didn’t always get to stop by home in the morning.  
  
Shower sex, and all.  
  
“Who?”  
  
Gibbs kept his head up, listening and waiting until he heard the rustle in the bushes and a _much_ more familiar (and insulting) sound of liquid pattering against the side of the house.  
  
Only two people, besides him, would remember that night in California, and one of them was still out there.  
  
"Stay inside. I mean it. This isn't your...stay inside."  He pushed his chair back and snarled at having to leave the delicious meal to deal with this upstart.  
  
Tony glanced around wildly, then turned to grab his gun, because bullshit if he was staying inside like some goddamn woman while Gibbs spit and swore.   
  
Maybe, maybe he looked ridiculous standing at the door, holding a pistol in a pair of sweatpants, but he’d had Gibbs’ six for five years, and goddamn if some case of lycanthropy was going to change that.  
  
"Dammit, Tony, _stay_ in the--"  
  
"Well, doesn't this look familiar?"  
  
Alejandro zipped up his pants and grinned at him; the reek of his territorial mark made Gibbs' nose wrinkle and his lips draw back from his teeth.  "Figured I'd return the favor from all those years ago."  
  
"Think you'd better leave so you can live to regret what you just did," Gibbs growled. "I won't just leave you with a scar."  
  
Tony looked incredulously at the man on Gibbs’ lawn, tall, long strong legs, tan skin, and a _wicked_ grin, canines flashing in the evening light.   
  
“Did he-- did he just piss on your _house??_ ” He didn’t like him, but he did admire the hair, thick dark and waving. Very old Hollywood but--  
  
“Seriously? You just _pissed_ on a Federal agent’s house!”  
  
Gibbs slid between Tony and Alejandro, fingers curled lightly.  "You don't want to have this out here, do you? Got neighbors...bystanders."  
  
"This? I just came to let you know that you need to watch your territory.  You never know who might drop in."  Alejandro cocked his head to the side, trying to peer around him.  "Who's your friend?"  
  
“Very special Agent DiNozzo. Boss, who the hell is this?” When Gibbs stepped in front of him, his gun automatically went down and to the left, and he looked hard at the man. “And this is a very bad idea. Do you know who he is?” He shook his head despairingly. “Not a good idea, first of all, no real follow-through, poor execution, very bad plan.”  
  
Gibbs held Alejandro's gaze as he answered Tony.  "I know him. We go back."  
  
Alejandro grinned. "Always wondered what happened to you after I left you pissing yourself in that alley."  
  
Gibbs frowned and stepped forward, gaze locked on the trespasser.  His wolf stared through his eyes, hackles up, tail out straight.  "Get off my lawn."  
  
Tony felt the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the sound of that voice, and squared himself behind it.   
  
In a few heartbeats, their chests would be touching, and Tony knew it would go downhill incredibly quickly from there. But he was trapped, waiting, and if that man laid a hand on Gibbs... well, it’d be a justifiable shooting.  
  
Alejandro snarled, the sound liquid and ugly, and didn't lower his head to the stare.  "You want this now? In front of god and everyone?"  
  
"You're the one still holding onto an insult twenty years old.  You come out east because you had to tuck your tail to everyone in Cali?"  
  
It was a deliberate, and effective jab, and he braced himself to meet Alejandro's rush, twisting and wrapping his arm around the older man's neck.  "Yeah...that's what I thought," he growled in his ear as Alejandro clawed at his arm.  
  
He might have had the speed, but Alejandro had the weight, and Gibbs 'whoof!'ed when the other man slammed him back against his house, his grip loosening enough for Alejandro to shake free...  
  
He saw claws push through Alejandro's fingertips, his eyes widening as teeth lengthened into larger canines.  
  
Their eyes met. Alejandro smiled a snarling gape-grin and leaped--  
  
\--straight at Tony.  
  
Tony couldn’t get a bead on the stranger, not with them fighting, but when he got free of Gibbs, he fired.   
  
Once in the shoulder, and it didn’t even slow him down.  
  
When he started to _change,_ Tony’d never seen anything so awful in his life, terrifying, and he fired again and again until teeth scraped over his collarbone, sank straight in to the base of his neck.  
  
He fought, screaming in pain, looking at the bloodied muzzle of the wolf on top of him, getting dizzy and weak.  
  
Gibbs saw Alejandro leap for Tony and felt the blood roaring in his ears...  
  
 _The wolf thrashed free from the tangle of clothes and flew at the interloper, knocking him bodily off the prone two-legs and sending him rolling to the grass again._  
  
 _This time he wouldn't get away._  
  
 _They circled and clashed again, chest to chest, teeth slashing.  He dipped low and succeeded where the darker one had failed, snapping his foreleg and sending him off-balance enough that the throat bite was true._  
  
 _He held on this time, through the struggles and the scratches, even as blood clogged his nose and made it hard to breathe...he felt it when the interloper died, and turned his face to the waning moon and howled his victory._  
  
 _Lights snapped on around him, and a vague sense of fear told him to run.  He heard a moan from the light of the doorway and smelled him.  Hurt, bleeding, and--_  
  
 _He approached carefully, tail low, and whined._  
  
Tony watched them in a glazed over kind of way, one hand fumbling for the gun, the other clapped to his bleeding throat.  
  
The pain was blinding. Tony’d been shot, stabbed, blown up, bones broken and given the plague, but....   
  
He was going to die.   
  
It was clear, the way the blood was in his throat, his body was going numb and... it was Gibbs’ wolf who stood over him, muzzle soaked in blood and Tony could feel the tears prick his eyes.   
  
Roll back into his hair, as the body? Carcass? shifted back to a man, sluggishly, twistingly.   
  
“Gibbs... Gibbs... Please... Hosp-hospital,” he choked on the words, on the blood in his throat, pain lessening, and his eyes slowly drifting shut.   
  
_The name made him remember, made him shake as he fought the Change. The wolf wanted to run, to escape the lights and sounds of the world of man and find the woods again, but the Man had other ideas--_  
  
Gibbs gagged on the taste of blood in his mouth and crouched over Tony's bleeding body.  "Let's get you....lie still. Just lie still."  
  
He went inside and grabbed towels from the kitchen, pressed them hard to Tony's throat.  He knew the wounds weren't fatal, wouldn't be fatal unless Alejandro had torn his heart out, or his head off.  
  
But he also knew he had a limited time to get everything cleaned up before the police responded to the 911 calls and found a bloody body outside and blood all over the back steps.  
  
He leaned over Tony again and smoothed his spiky hair back from his face.  "You're not gonna die, Tony. Not tonight."  
  
He stayed there for a moment, then went inside for a pair of pants. And a tarp from the basement to wrap the body in.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs helps Tony adjust again, this time because the situation is much closer to home.

It hadn't been easy, getting the cops away from the house, but when the lack of shell casings, his weapon secured in its safe and hadn't been recently fired, and the torn up earth outside explained by his plans to dig a pond in the backyard, he bid them good night.  
  
Every second talking to the cops seemed like an hour away from Tony, and before the sound of the police cars faded down the street he was back upstairs with him.  
  
For the rest of the night and most of the day, he waited with him, as the wounds healed and the fever and tremors raced through his body.  He dribbled water down his throat and spooned oatmeal and soup as needed.  
  
Mostly, however, he tried to figure out how this would play out.  
  
In one of the quiet moments, when Tony was in a true sleep, he called Bob to let him know about Alejandro and Tony.    
  
Bob didn't sound pleased, but neither of them could change what had happened.  "Let me know if you need anything, okay? Anything at all."  
  
"Thanks, Bob. I got it covered.  I'll see you as soon as Tony's up for it."  
  
He'd need to meet the pack, and they'd need to look him over before the next full moon.  
  
When Tony finally felt almost conscious again, all he was aware of was the _heat_. His body was on fire, from his throat, all the way across his shoulders and down to his toes.   
  
It was disorienting, when his eyes finally cracked open, that the light was too bright, his head was throbbing and his throat was dry.   
  
He’d had nightmares while he was under, awful flashes, scent of blood and sweat so rich he could taste them, ground beneath him blurring while he ran.  
  
He finally looked around, expecting a nurse, the staff, anything but the soft blue walls of Gibbs’ guest room.  
  
Gibbs heard the stirring just as he finished the laundry, and took the stairs two at a time to the guest room. Tony's eyes were clear, if confused, the fever gone, the wounds healed to small scars. And, if he knew that look well enough, his mind was somewhere between disbelief and suicidal.  
  
"Hey.”  
  
Tony heard him on the stairs. He heard him from downstairs. He watched him walk in, and he started groggily checking himself over, fingers finding no bandages, just a small jagged scar.   
  
The influx from his other senses was overwhelming and he winced under it, shaking his head. “No.”  
  
Gibbs watched him from the doorway, the denial expected.  "I'm sorry."  He stepped in slowly. "Didn't ever want this for you."  
  
He'd survived; that part was the easiest. The real test would be dealing with it for the next two weeks, both at work and until his first full moon.  
  
He could hear the way Gibbs was breathing, slow in, easy out, but his heartbeat--  
  
“No. Fuck no, Gibbs.” He felt weak, struggling up, out of the bed, almost upending himself. “I-- I handled... Jesus.” The world swam in front of him, too many colors, too many sounds and smells while he held on to the nightstand for dear life.  
  
He smelled. Like dried blood, and fear-sweat.   
  
“This was... I can’t-- It was a trainwreck when it was you, and you’ve got--”  
  
Gibbs sat down on the bed with him, reached out and touched his shoulder. "Easy, Tony. It's gonna be a little strange, I know, but it's not the end--"  
  
“--of the world!? Did you just--?” That he could hear his own heart beating, racing, only made his panic ratchet higher as he twitched away from the seeking hand. “Did you just _say_ that to me? That, that _thing_ bit me and I’m-- I’m gonna-- oh god. I can _smell you_. And... and hear you breathe and, that’s not okay. What if I get booked for murder again and they want to run my DNA? Abby gonna see little dancing doggies down the strain of it??”  
  
"Tony, stop.  I got through this, and you can too, you got it? But first you have to take a breath." Gibbs could hear his heart racing and wanted to hear it calm down before they discussed it.  "I'll get you through this."  
  
He reached out again, just to touch the back of his neck, the gesture always calming before last night.  
  
The snarl that came from Tony’s throat might have surprised him more than Gibbs, shoulders hunching and teeth bare.   
  
It was so raw, everything around him was terrifyingly intense, 4-D, hi-def, smell-o-vision and... He didn’t even know why he made the noise, hand clapping over his mouth shortly after.  
  
He’d never be normal again. Be this strange, snarling, half-creature...  
  
"Tony."  Gibbs stood in response to that snarl and squeezed his shoulder hard.  Tony's wolf was still finding its way.  "Keep it together. You're still you. Still human, and you can handle this."  
  
He lowered his gaze to meet Tony's.  His scent was already changing, the familiar scent now threaded through with something wild, like fur and forest.  
  
Tony felt something inside him give at that tone. That squeeze. Gibbs had never let him down. Ever. He took a few slower breaths, trying to keep as calm as he could... because he didn’t like that tone.  
  
He dropped his eyes, nose turning against Gibbs’ arm just once.   
  
“Sorry, boss.”   
  
Gibbs squeezed again, this time with less urgency as he nosed softly into Tony's hair.  "I'll get you through this," he whispered.  "You can get through this. Learn to use it. Control it."  
  
Another squeeze. "I'll help you."  
  
“I’m scared.” When Gibbs was close enough to hear him breathe the words, they escaped into the air between them. God knew self-control had never been on his list of accomplishments, and just thinking about it, about his _lover_ being a... a werewolf, he made himself think it, had been daunting.  
  
“I don’t want to hurt anybody, Gibbs.” But the smell of him was comforting, earthy and strong. He could start there.  
  
"You won't. Not if you can keep it together. And if you listen to me."  
  
This wasn't teaching someone his Rules. This was teaching someone to live all over again, and he knew Tony could handle it, once they got past the initial panic and sensory overload.  "We can get through this."  He'd make sure of it.  
  
“Does it hurt?”  he asked, feeling a little lost. He’d listen, not because he needed to impress him, wanted to be the _best_. This was so different. And he couldn’t fuck it up. Not this time. Not with this.  
  
He’d bow to Gibbs’ experience, and hopefully.. over time they’d figure it out. But he knew, from his time with Gibbs that he had two weeks on the outside to at least get himself in order. To get ready for his first moon.  
  
Gibbs sat back down with him, and now he rested his hand on the back of Tony's neck.  "It hurts worse when you try to fight it."  He sighed.  "You--you get used to it. As much as you can get used to something like that.  The big part is getting used to the smells. Sounds."  
  
Tony could have told him that. It was already hard to concentrate on his words, distracted by his breathing and heartbeat. He turned his head, catching it again, and pressed his nose to the skin of Gibbs’ throat, inhaling.  
  
He was close and warm and smelled like... like _good_ , he thought stupidly. “Smell pretty good, boss.”  
  
Gibbs closed his eyes when he felt Tony's nose at his throat, and smiled at his words.  "Now you know what I had to live with."  He kissed the top of his head.  "You need a shower.  And to eat, now that the fever's gone down a bit."  
  
He would _not_ start anything until Tony had a handle on himself.  
  
“You cook I’ll clean?” he asked hopefully, finally standing, and getting the scent of _fever sick_ in his nose. Gross.   
  
“God, workouts are going to be disgusting.”   
  
The shower was magnificent, though, water hitting tile muffling some of the other noises and the only thing he could smell was himself, and the soap Gibbs kept in the shower.   
  
It was good. And if he lingered over the scar on his throat in front of the mirror, well, no one else had to know.   
  
He hadn’t brought other clothes, though, so he padded downstairs, smelling the start of dinner while he was still wrapping the towel around himself.   
  
“You shop at Wal-Mart because you break your clothes, don’t you?”  
  
Gibbs smelled him coming down the stairs. He smelled _clean_ and better. Still tentative, but already trying.  He took the steaks out from under the broiler, let Tony smell the blood; he'd liked his steaks rare before, but after the Change, anything less than red inside wasn't worth eating.  
  
"What's wrong with wanting to be comfortable?"  He motioned to the living room with his chin. "There's some sweats over there, if you want. You're not eating in a towel."  
  
Tony smelled the steak cooking, but underneath, his mouth started _watering_ at the scent of iron-rich blood. He moved to the stove thoughtlessly, words turning to an ignorable murmur, leaning over and breathing it in.  
  
He was _starving_. Made a hungry little noise and reached with his fingers for the steak.   
  
"Hey!"  Gibbs tapped him on the back of the hand with the flat of his fork.  "Clothes and silverware. We eat like people in this house."  
  
Tony may have a wolf inside him, but he would learn to control it.  
  
Tony felt a little lick of insult as he snatched his hand back, glaring for a moment until he pulled himself back, hard, with a slow breath.   
  
“Sorry. Sorry. Clothes and silverware.” His hand in the towel tightened and he made himself walk away from the stove, its enticing bouquet, and into sweatpants that felt softer than anything he’d worn before.  
  
And smelled like Gibbs. Freshly laundered Gibbs.  
  
He moved anxiously from foot to foot when he came back, Gibbs messing with green beans, and he curled his toes against the tile.   
  
“Almost ready?”  
  
Gibbs looked him over, saw the little fidget and nodded.  "Ready. Go get a couple sodas and we'll eat."  
  
He set two places, the steaks making _his_ mouth water as well.  
  
When they sat down to eat, he raised his fork at Tony. "Wait. When you run with the pack, you eat in order of your place.  I won't worry about it here, but even if you brought down the prey, you wait until everyone's eaten their fill."    
  
He nodded. "Got it?"  
  
It was torture. If the Geneva Convention knew about werewolves, this would be illegal. Everywhere. Even Libya.   
  
He could feel the whine working up his throat, and he bit it back, committing the words to memory. “Probie in a new office. Got it, boss.”  
  
 _Pleasepleaseplease let me eat._  
  
"All right.  Dig in."  
  
They ate in silence, the sound of their chewing and the scrape of their silverware on the plates the only sounds in the kitchen.  He watched Tony eat, two different sets of emotions turning over each other in his mind.  
  
Tony was his lover, and the only one he'd ever trusted (albeit unexpectedly) with his lycanthropy. He was a part of his human world that he trusted with the world beyond ordinary comprehension.  
  
Now, also unexpectedly, he had to integrate Tony into that World Beyond, this time as a mentor.   
  
_Here's hoping I can handle this_.  
  
He finished his steak.  
  
***  
  
Tony did the best he could over the weekend, snarling at Gibbs for the way he slept so loudly on Sunday night, every snuffle, or move like hi-def surround sound, hearing him breathe like a freight train.   
  
Gibbs had just pushed sleepily at him and rolled over.   
  
But he put the tie on Monday morning, drove himself into work, thankssomuchreally, but his nerves started jangling as soon as he stepped out of the car.  
  
It was an _assault_ on his senses, and every noise and smell and vibration was vying for his attention. He made it two hours, snarling, taking the flack for a hangover, or the weakness of a cold, Gibbs in MTAC before he unceremoniously leaned over mid-snap at Ziva and threw up in his trash can.  
  
Gibbs had kept an eye on Tony during the morning, knowing what he wanted but also remembering his first few days of pushing things too hard.  When he heard the retching he went quickly over to Tony, waiting until he was done and squeezed the back of his neck.  "With me, DiNozzo," he said quietly, snagging the wastebasket with his fingers in case Tony needed it again.  
  
He took him to the nearest head and locked the door after making sure there were no other occupants.  "Smarter, not harder, Tony."  
  
Tony could smell himself and it only made everything worse. “Hate this.” His legs were weak, his head was throbbing and his stomach was turning traitorous cartwheels. He slapped the water on and washed his face, and his mouth out.  
  
“Smarter only works when you’re not trying to die, boss.”   
  
"It's all right. Just trying too hard."  Gibbs looked him over carefully. He knew this was hard for him, and something he had to get used to, but he needed to get a handle on the more basic things first.  "Go home. Got the flu. Three more days. We'll work on it every night when I get home."  
  
He squeezed his shoulder. "Got it?"  
  
“No...” It was a weak protest but he tried. “Senior field agent. On your... six... I think I’ll be--” But someone clattered down the stairwell outside the bathroom, and his stomach swam again.  
  
“Oh god... Fuck it. Home. Taking the bus? Don’t think I can drive.” He didn’t know how to block any of it out. He wanted earplugs and then headphones over them, and silence. An iso chamber.   
  
"I'll call you a cab."  Gibbs slid his hand up behind Tony's neck and he pulled him in briefly, resting his chin on the top of his head.  "It gets easier," he murmured. "Promise."  
  
It was easier in California, when it was a field office, him and Mike.  He'd help Tony make it work. Maybe he'd call Fornell later too, see if he had any tips.  
  
"Go on. You've got sick leave coming anyway."  
  
Tony nodded miserably, taking the respite against Gibbs’ chest, letting that smell overwhelm the others, his heartbeat fill his ears. “I want soup for dinner. Italian wedding, Nonni’s, down the block from me.”   
  
He made himself move, and let Gibbs support him to the elevator while he called a cab, and laid down in the back seat, his suit jacket crumpled under his head. This was going to kill him.  
  
Gibbs brought him the soup later that night, let him eat in peace and, once he'd eaten his fill of the soup and the roast beef sandwich he'd also brought him, took him out to Rock Creek Park.    
  
He parked in one of the gravel lots and stood with him in the fading light.  "Tell me what you hear. Don't try and smell anything. Just focus on one thing at a time."  
  
Tony felt the beginnings of over-stimulation as he looked around. Dinner had gone okay. He’d held it all down. But the panic had started to crowd in. “I’m-- your heartbeat. I hear your heart.”  
  
"Good. Now close your eyes and listen. This place is crawling with deer.  There's one in the thicket about fifty feet ahead.  Can you hear her breathing?"  
  
He knew it was a doe; there was a fawn with her. Two heartbeats, and the smell of drying milk.  
  
Tony tried. Eyes squeezed shut, fingers shaking, he listened. He could hear more than that. Could hear something small to his left, and way bigger to his right. But he tried.  
  
When he could focus on that, his brow furrowed. “Two. Two deer. One’s heart is faster than the other?”  
  
Gibbs nodded, allowing a smile. "Very good. She's got a fawn."  He tilted his head at the soft rustle closer to their feet.  "Hear the mouse?"  
  
He saw Tony's head twitch towards the sound. Good; he was listening.  "All right...no more listening.  Concentrate...Now tell me what you smell. Just what you smell."  
  
He squeezed Tony's shoulder. "Focus."  
  
It was hard to shut out the noise of the forest, but his nose had always been sensitive, now it was like a superpower.   
  
One long slow inhale and he catalogued his answer. “Was a fire? Smells like cold ash. Wet dog. Maybe a stray? And... bears definitely shit in the woods, boss.”  
  
"Never get used to that smell. Bear scat."  Gibbs wrinkled his nose.  "You see, though. How you can shut it out.  Make it work for you instead of overwhelming you."  He took a deep breath of the night air.  "If you start in the right place instead of trying too hard."  
  
“It’s hard.” But the whining stopped immediately as he thought about how _much more snooping_ he could do without getting caught.   
  
His grin spread as his mind tried to process some of the scents in front of him, and the ones from earlier.  
  
“... Robertson’s cologne smells like something starting to rot... and it smells worse on Amy in the admin office.”  
  
Gibbs chuffed a little laugh.  "Yeah.  Yeah, it does. Makes poker a hell of a lot more interesting too, when you can hear heartbeats get faster when they have a good hand."  
  
He leaned to bump shoulders with Tony. "We'll try places with more people tomorrow. Sound good?"  
  
They had ten days until the full moon, to get him acclimated to the senses before the Change.  "Haven't told Fornell yet. Wasn't sure how you wanted to break it to him."  
  
“Dearest Tobias,” Tony started, hand over his heart. “I know we’ve had our differences, but now we are united by the truly fucking awful bite of lycanthropy. Don’t sleep with Gibbs or now I’ll eat your entire face off. Love and sweetest affection, DiNotso.”  
  
Tony lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “More worried about everyone else who watched me fall out of that tree, honestly.”  
  
Gibbs had to laugh again at Tony's verbal letter to Tobias and shook his head, letting the assumption that they'd done anything together lie in favor of answering the other concern.  "I've already let Bob and Janice know.  We'll meet them for lunch this weekend, so they can get a look at you."  
  
He turned back towards the car.  "What they say goes when it comes to the pack.  Period. They have the most to lose if things go wrong."


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony meets the rest of the Pack under more controlled (and much friendlier) circumstances as he adjusts to his new world.

It was fucking bizarre, Tony decided that night, stripping down for a shower, alone. Gibbs was a leader. He could made SecNav uncomfortable when he wanted to, owned every room he walked in, and if he didn’t, it was out of his own choice, his respect for a grieving mother, wife...   
  
He’d waited till Bob and Janice both sat in the bright bistro. Tony waited till Gibbs sat.   
  
He deferred. It was the only word for it. It wasn’t fear, because.. what did Gibbs have to fear from a kindergarten teacher and her accountant husband?? And he’d expected to be grilled. Like he was taking someone’s daughter to prom.   
  
Janice - _Just Janice, sweetheart_ \- wanted to apologize for his introduction to their... lifestyle, but said it was common. That she and Bob wanted to be sure he understood things, and knew he was welcome, to learn, to participate, but that there were rules.   
  
Not fifty-two, her husband had assured him, arm around his wife. They liked to keep it simple. Secrecy. Safety. And to fall in line with the pack.   
  
Janice had patted his hand, smiling at him.   
  
But it was their neighborhood. Their lives. Community. Not like Janice would ever be able to teach if someone outed her. Even to something as silly as naked Pagan dancing in the woods, because who’d believe in... well, them?  
  
He heard the door creak while he rubbed shampoo through his hair, still thinking hard.  
  
Gibbs stripped down and joined him in the shower, pressing up against his back for a long moment.  "Janice likes you," he said. "I heard her mention cookies as we were leaving."  
  
He envied the way Tony could ingratiate himself with just about anyone. Bob and Janice let him stay mostly on the outskirts even though he knew the group sometimes got together for a meal or a night out.  Maybe he'd go to a couple of them if it meant Tony could meet everyone.  
  
Tony dropped a sudsy hand to cover Gibbs’. “She said she liked my highlights, and I told her I could get her an appointment at my salon. Teachers don’t make a whole lot, but neither do we. And Fernando’s a genius.”   
  
He tipped his head back and rinsed with a few swipes before reaching for the conditioner. “She said they’re having a barbecue this Friday. I should bring you.” He looked at Gibbs while he soaped up. “You could run that pack.”  
  
Gibbs switched places with him so he could wet his hair and soap up.  "I lead a team already. Don't need to lead the pack too."  He scrubbed the shampoo into his hair with a growl.  "They do all right, and I help when they ask me to."  
  
They'd stopped inviting him to the barbecues after the third decline. "We'll go on Friday, see if Tobias wants to come."  
  
At least at a werewolf pack gathering he could drink without having to watch his mouth.  
  
Tony heard his surly answer and rolled his eyes. Gibbs wasn’t a real barbecue kind of person, had a feeling he’d need to pout and cajole and make food before Gibbs would agree to go.  
  
“M’sure you do. How many of them aren’t actually scared of you?” He’d call Tobias, see if he avoided the outings as much as Gibbs must. But till then...   
  
“Think they’ll like me, boss?” It was a quiet question while he brought his man a step closer to him.  
  
"They'll like you fine."  He rinsed his hair with a shake of his head (no conditioner for him) and patted his hip.  "You're easy to like, and they're good people."  
  
 _Well, they're good people now that Rivera's gone._  
  
"You'll do fine."  He kissed Tony's shoulder and switched so he could rinse.  "The barbecue'll let everyone get a scent of you too. That'll be important on full moon night."  
  
Not that he wouldn't be standing at Tony's shoulder to make sure he was okay, but it helped that everyone knew the newcomer's scent.  
  
Tony rinsed, eyes dropping shut as he did, smile soft and only a little smug at the words.   
  
It was one of the reasons Gibbs’d hired him. Personality, flash, and how-to underneath it all. He was still worried about the change, his first moon, what would happen, but he did know he liked the way he felt more balanced, like he stood on firmer ground. He breathed deeper, saw things more clearly.   
  
When he was sure all the conditioner was gone from his hair, he shook his head quickly, spattering water on Gibbs with a stupid grin on his face.   
  
“With those big sweeping gestures how could a girl doubt you care, boss?”  
  
Gibbs grinned and swatted at him with that ridiculous loofah thing that Tony bought and he only commandeered because it got him _really_ clean.  "That's enough out of you."  
  
He tumbled them both back into the bed once they were dry, nipping at Tony's collarbone and neck with soft growls.  Now that he didn't have to worry about being careful with his teeth, he liked to indulge in leaving a mark or two on Tony's body, under his clothes.  
  
Tony didn’t even pretend to fight back, simply anchoring a hand in Gibbs’ hair and letting their legs tangle together. He loved this now: the biting.   
  
He hadn’t realized a lack of it until after he’d been bitten by Rivera. He loved how they’d rub against his collar, sometimes against the badge he’d clip to his hip. And Gibbs loved the noise it pulled out of him.  
  
Tony knew because it only made him bite harder and Tony rub up against him more.  
  
“Thought you were tired...”  
  
"Not that tired."  Gibbs breathed deep, loving the way their scents combined.  He knew that the others would smell it too, when he met them, and that made him both look forward to the gathering and grind harder against Tony's hip.  
  
 _Mine._  
  
They were part of the same team, now part of the same pack, but ever since Baltimore, Tony had been _his_.  
  
And he liked that.    
  
***  
  
Tony had fidgeted for an hour before Gibbs landed a smack upside his head that put all the others to shame. He’d adjusted his collar once after that and shoved a dish into Gibbs’ hands.   
  
“Less violent that way, bastard, and don’t eat that! It’s for the picnic.” Tobias was meeting them at Gibbs’ house, but driving on his own. He hadn’t stopped laughing for the first three minutes Tony talked to him, and Jethro had looked ready to spit nails.   
  
Tony was almost sure that was Marine for ‘embarrassed’.   
  
Gibbs rolled his eyes and waited for Tony, a tray of potato salad in his hands.  After some consternation and an utter refusal to wear the three wolf moon shirt that had appeared without warning in his dresser, he was wearing a not-so-battered USMC t-shirt and a pair of faded jeans.  
  
This was ordinarily an afternoon he'd spend with the boat, the smell of sawdust and the soothing rhythm of the hand tools on the wood.  Instead, they were going to the pack barbecue, which had caused no less than thirty seconds of nonstop laughter from Tobias and several _No, seriously? He's coming?_ disbelieving questions.  
  
He sighed and forced his shoulders to relax.  This was for Tony to meet everyone before the full moon, and they'd both have a good afternoon.  
  
 _One_ joke, and Tobias would pay for it on the night the pack hunted.  "How much damned food did you make?"  
  
He might have gone overboard with the prosciutto wrapped melon balls, but once he’d started with the olives marinated in oil and rosemary, he found himself falling into the cooking groove he’d learned so long ago. They’d bought the bread for the bruschetta, but everything else was packed and ready. Janice said the staples were covered.   
  
“Enough, thanks for sitting and bitching instead of helping,” Tony snapped, taking a deep breath before making the turned up cuffs of his shirt looked casual enough. Gibbs’ tension was making him  nervous. More nervous.   
  
Though he might have still been pouting about what had happened to the shirt he’d bought him.  
  
"Hey, I would have helped if you didn't tell me to get the hell out of the kitchen."  Gibbs looked down at the potato salad.  "Looks good. Smells great."  
  
He could relax today, couldn't he?  It was a damned barbecue. A _party_.  "You want me to drive?"  
  
He heard a familiar car pull up to the curb and closed his eyes. Tobias.  Lovely.  He could practically _hear_ his grin as he got out.  "Don't know who has the bigger trunk."  
  
"Jethro....DiNozzo."  Fornell lifted his head and sniffed. "Is that prosciutto and melon?"  
  
“You only get some after you laugh at my jokes, Fornell. I’m trying for a good impression, and Gibbs is trying for Grumpiest Mister Wuffles. Think he might be taking the lead.  
  
“We’ll follow.”  
  
Fornell did indeed laugh at the nickname said aloud, letting Gibbs glare with full hands.  "See you there."  
  
Gibbs sighed and brushed past Tony on the way to the car. "I'll drive. You keep the food from sliding all around. Think that'll keep me from getting too grumpy?"  
  
He looked back over his shoulder with half a smile. He didn't want Tony to be ill at ease when they got there. He'd take care of that for both of them.  
  
Tony took a deep breath and smiled, sliding into his seat and arranging the dishes in the backseat. “You drive like a normal person behind Fornell, I’m positive everything’ll get there in one piece.”  
  
Tony would handle it like he handled everything: a bit of manic energy, Gibbs’ hand keeping him in line, and a deceptively wide smile on his face. And he was positive Gibbs wouldn’t have a problem making their excuses if they needed to leave.  
  
“Ya know, Bob just finished putting a deck on the back of the house, Janice told me.”  
  
"Yeah?"  Gibbs slid behind the wheel and started the car.  Of course Tony had found out in one lunch what he hadn't asked in years.  It was what Tony did. Probably what Fornell did too, when he went to these things.  
  
He reached over and squeezed Tony's shoulder.  If he was going to be dragged into socializing with the pack, he wouldn't want anyone to drag him but Tony.  
  
Tony smiled and nodded. He was the intel man. Always good at getting the bits and pieces from people. “She gave me a run down of everybody else, too. S’good to know what I’m walking into. I’m scared about the first moon,” he said, suddenly sober.  
  
He remembered watching Gibbs’ body twist, and the way Alejandro had leapt at him, terrifying and teeth and fangs.  
  
Gibbs turned and slid his hand from Tony's shoulder up into his hair, thumb stroking under his ear. "Nobody's expecting anything. Everyone's been where you are now.  We're here to help."  
  
He wasn't sure what else to say, so he squeezed his neck. "I'll look out for you."  
  
“... Are you sure I shouldn’t...? I mean... in a... basement, or... a, a cage?” He was stammering over the words, feeling his chest tighten.   
  
It wasn’t a picnic. He was meeting with werewolves. Because he was... was a werewolf.  
  
And suddenly, it was more real than it ever felt. Sure the super senses were nice, when they weren’t overwhelming, but he was really, really going to lose himself. He was going to turn into some... some thing that wasn’t him. Wasn’t Tony DiNozzo, wasn’t the man he’d been fighting to be and... He didn’t think he could do it.  
  
Gibbs could smell it, the rising panic, hearing his racing heart, and squeezed harder.  "Tony.  Tony, take a deep breath.  Keep it together and take that breath.  Deep in, slow out..."  
  
Tony did as ordered, always did as Gibbs ordered, and felt it, the air all the way in, his chest expanding in a way it hadn’t since college, definitely not since the plague had decimated his eight minute mile...  
  
Gibbs would watch him. Take care of him.   
  
He turned his nose into Gibbs’ wrist, and nudged him hard. He needed the grounding. The reassurance. He needed another deep breath.  
  
“S’okay. M’okay.”  
  
Gibbs kept his hand on the back of his neck, heavy and firm.  "Feel it. No more cough."  
  
He'd stopped hearing the rasp in his breath three days after the bite.  "That's what you get. That's part of what you are now.  But you're still you."  He curled his fingers, pulled him close enough to share a breath. "You're still mine."  
  
Tony watched his eyes, dark and serious, and felt his chest loosen with his next breath, and the one after that.  
  
The shiver that chased itself down his spine was next. He licked his lips slowly and nodded. “Still me. Still yours, boss.” Those were the simple, true things he could focus on.  
  
And Tobias’ horn sounding sharply behind them. “Think we’re supposed to be driving,” he murmured, leaning in just a little bit more.  
  
Gibbs started at the sound and gave half a glare behind them, then slid his hand back to Tony's cheek to pat him.  "Let's go meet the gang."  
  
He knew the pack would like Tony, and he knew that he and Bob could work out how to deal with Alejandro's 'disappearance'.  He'd take Bob aside early on to get it out of the way, while Tony was meeting everyone and then they could talk about the deck.  
  
Jesus, he couldn't even go to a cookout without a plan.  
  
Bob and Janice lived outside Manassas, and by the time they got there, Tony had relaxed, even though Gibbs and Fornell insisted on playing tag with each other up the highway. He’d even gotten to sing along to the radio before Gibbs started laughing at him, and by the time they parked, he’d thrown into a full on impression of Pavarotti singing ABBA.  
  
Janice had been the first to greet them, Tobias, then Tony and Gibbs.  
  
A little coolly, until Gibbs extended the dish Tony’d laden him down with.  
  
Food always made you a hit, Tony knew.  
  
Gibbs smiled at Janice, eyes down and shoulders relaxed as she took the pan of potato salad.  
  
"Go ahead around back. Carrie and Jeff are here, Lisa's on her way and we're not sure about Eric."  Janice motioned with her chin.  "Bob's at the grill. Hope you like your burgers rare."  
  
Gibbs and Tobias both chuffed a laugh. After the change, _everyone_ liked their meat rare.  
  
“Melon balls wrapped in proscuitto,” Tony told her, handing his dish off quickly as his mouth _watered_ at the saturating scent of cooking meat.  
  
“You look lovely, the house is just wonderful, is that ceramic tile, is this one of those times where I have to wait to eat??”  
  
Janice laughed, and Tony liked the sound of it, it was full, and still soft. “Go, he’ll feed you.”  
  
Tony wasn’t the only one sniffing around the grill. Carrie was a red-head with incredible... assets... that made him immediately leery, but she smiled and introduced herself, and pretty soon they were talking about what exactly it had taken to get Gibbs to a barbecue.   
  
She laughed when he told her how wounded he was about Jethro refusing to wear the three wolf moon shirt, and he was mildly disconcerted when she leaned in, sniffed him and nodded.  
  
“I knew he was gay. Do you have any idea how many people I’m collecting from with one little smell of you?”  
  
“I- I- well, I’m not, ya know... and Boss, he’s, he’s very, very, manly, and Clint Eastwood, with that... umm...”  
  
"Y'don't have to like one or the other, Carrie."  Gibbs gruffed from behind Tony, resting his hand on the small of his back.  "Nothin' wrong with liking both."  
  
Carrie laughed again and shook her head.  "Equal opportunity, Jethro. You never said anything!"  She looked from Tony to Gibbs and wrinkled her nose with a playful smile.  "Too cute.  You guys want a beer?"  
  
She headed for the cooler before he could decline, and Gibbs spread his fingers across Tony's back.  "Having fun?"  
  
He'd talked to Bob about Alejandro, and he'd given him tips about sealing the deck.  Now it was just the strange ritual known as 'mingling'.  He'd let Tony take the lead on that one.  
  
“When my heart isn’t trying to jump out of my chest and tripping on my tongue, it’s just lovely,” Tony said conversationally, feeling that hand like it was burning a brand on his skin.   
  
They never touched like this in public. Not with their jobs, not with their lives.  
  
But here Gibbs didn’t... flaunt it, per se... but he sure as hell took no pains hiding it. So Tony took the momentary comfort of it, leaning in, and taking the beer when it was offered.  
  
They seemed nice, though. Almost all of them. And he’d even seen Gibbs talking to Bob without prompting. “Seriously, though. Am I allowed to have a burger or what?”  
  
Gibbs nodded towards the grill and table, where Janice was uncovering the potato salad and the melon balls, along with chips and veggies with dip.  "I'm betting Bob had a burger when the first person got here, and Janice already told us we could eat. It's okay."   
  
He wasn't used to the looks that Carrie was shooting him, and he knew that one sniff would tell the others the same thing Carrie knew.  Hell, he wasn't used to _any_ of this, but the longer he stayed, with the comforting scents of the pack and the food, he found himself relaxing by degrees.  
  
It wasn't his team.  Others had the lead here, and he could just enjoy the afternoon with Tony.  
  
"Nice balls."  
  
And Tobias.  
  
Tony grinned, wide and innocent, and took a sip of his beer. “Nice and juicy, right?”  
  
He could do this, even with Gibbs groaning behind at what he was sneakily considering could be his new friend.   
  
At the least, a packmate.   
  
Dinner was good, his meat was rare, and after everyone got a few drinks in them, they seemed to warm up to Gibbs a bit more. There were even a few, when Lisa finally got there, who wanted to ask him a few questions, anyway, just this and that, about where to get something to fix up their house, or an invite to a basketball game.   
  
Tony agreed for both of them. Everyone had figured it out pretty much immediately. There had been a couple odd looks, but mostly sly grins or money exchanging hands. Mostly into Carrie’s.   
  
When Gibbs finally poured him into the car, it had been after hugs. For everyone. And a wonderful old world double cheek kiss for Fornell.  
  
“Let’s do this at Gibbs’ next time. He’s got a grill and a backyard. And a kitchen. Even though the sink runs bourbon instead of water.”  
  
"Sounds good," Eric said, shooting Carrie a grin. "Carrie's got a pool but she doesn't trust us not to pee in it."  
  
The scuffle that ensued would have been odd at any other gathering, but Bob watched with a paternal snort and a soft, "Heyyyy," when they kept it up past the five-second mark.  "Be safe, everyone.  See you next week. Remember, it's a first moon for Tony."  
  
Each member of the pack met Tony's eyes with a smile and a nod. "Welcome."  
  
"I'll have your pan back in a day or so," Janice said. "Soon as I run it through the dishwasher."  
  
Gibbs smiled at Tony when he shut the car door.  "Looks like you had a good time."  He smelled the beer in his sweat. "Smells like you did."  
  
Tony waved a couple more times as they pulled away, then made a face at Gibbs. “You smell pretty yeasty and happy, too, Gibbs. Smiling like that.”  
  
He felt warm, and not just from their beer. “They’re real nice people, Gibbs. They didn’t... they’re just really nice.” He leaned over the console to kiss his cheek. “Thanks, boss.”  
  
Gibbs smiled and gently tousled his hair.  "Glad you had a good time. They're good people."  
  
It had been odd, seeing the others that weren't Bob and Janice in a more casual setting. They'd all seen each other naked, and as wolves, but this was the first time since before his first moon in Washington DC that he'd been to one of the cookouts.  
  
It'd been odd.  But it'd been nice too.  
  
He nosed the car back towards the highway and kept one hand on Tony's wrist as he drove.  "Guess I'm gonna have to trim the hedges in the backyard if we're having everyone over."  
  
Tony smiled, mellow and pleased with the day, a whole new list of people in his cell, and Gibbs’ hand strong and easy over his wrist.  
  
He could almost hear the gears in his lover’s head turning, and he nodded sagely. “Probably. Probably  gonna have to get some condiments that aren’t relish, too. But we’ll start small.”  
  
He looked at him for a moment, contemplative and told him seriously, “Those are the people you want to spend more time with, Gibbs. I wish I had people like that. In life. Ya know? Barbecue people. I used to know people like that.”  
  
Gibbs' thumb only hesitated once on Tony's wrist before smoothing to stroke again.   _So did I._ "We can do that."    
  
Tony didn't often ask for things, not directly like that.  When he asked with that soft honesty instead of the grin, he wasn't about to say no.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony experiences his first full moon with Gibbs and the Pack.

Thankfully, Tony's first full moon happened on a Friday night.  Unfortunately, it also meant that he had to get through a Friday at work when everything about his body was telling him to _change-run-hunt._  He did his best to mitigate any factors that would ramp up his stress levels and, thankfully, both fate and the team recognized this wasn't a day to get on either of their nerves.  
  
 _Maybe the rest of them track things too.  Have they noticed?_  Until he and Tony were together, he'd never really given it a thought.  
  
Tobias had called to ask how he was doing.   _Is he climbing the walls yet?  Should have sent him home at lunch, Jethro. Been too long since_ your _first full moon._  
  
 _I'll handle it, Tobias._  
  
Tony was snarling before the day was half over, and finally took a walk, when he saw Tim poking his head over his monitor and Ziva’s email dinging.   
  
They’d been messaging about him, all day.  
  
And he couldn’t blame them. He could feel his skin crawling. Every noise, every smell, even the feel of his shirt against his skin was raising his blood pressure.  
  
Tony had always had a good temper. Was great at being the cajoling partner...   
  
He needed a walk.  
  
"Goin' for coffee," Gibbs said, and pointed at Tim and Ziva. "You two. Down to Abby. She needs help with her filing system."  
  
With any luck, they'd stay down there until he figured out when was all right to send them home early.  Tony needed the break, and nobody was getting much done anyway. He got a coffee for Tony too, even if the caffeine would make him a little twitchier, and watched for him on the way back to the Navy Yard.  
  
Hopefully he'd be able to keep Tony from snapping at the Director.  Getting himself fired wouldn't be good for anyone.  
  
Tony had finally settled to a slow pace around the building, reminding himself that breathing in was important. Even if everyone smelled _wrong_ and stupid and--  
  
“Better be the right way,” he groused, turning and finding Gibbs’ eyes immediately.   
  
Someone smelled right, at least.  
  
"Extra cream, shot of vanilla. Two sugars."  Gibbs offered it to him, touching two fingers under his chin when he took the sweet-smelling drink.  "If you don't think you can keep it together here, you can go home. This isn't something you have to deal with today."  
  
This wasn't some kind of test or training exercise, and he needed for Tony to know that before he tried to push himself farther than he could handle.  
  
Tony took a long drink, closing his eyes and blocking out everything but the taste. He needed that touch on his skin but when he opened his eyes, despite what his body was screaming, he shook his head.   
  
He had to do it. The same reason they ate with forks, and the same reason he had to wear clothes.   
  
Because they were more than that instinct.   
  
“I’m good.”  
  
Gibbs squeezed his shoulder.  "Good. You come on back when you finish that. Probably only be here another hour or so."  He didn't like being at the office past four on full moon nights, and his attention on Tony had worn his own nerves down a bit.  "See you inside."  
  
As it happened, the lack of hot cases and the efficiency in which Tim and Ziva were able to help Abby with her backups, they were able to leave at three.  Abby came up to say good-night and handed Tony a bundle he could smell from across the bullpen.  
  
"It's tea," she explained. "Chamomile.  It always helps me when I end up with too much Caf-Pow and need to mellow out."  
  
Tony wrapped Abby up in a hug with her sachet of tea, because she always smelled right, too. He squeezed for another moment, pulling in the sweet and sharp of her.   
  
“Thanks, Abs. You smell even better than the tea.” He kissed her cheek and set her down, tugging a pony tail. It was the first moment of calm he thought he could grab onto for the day.   
  
When he got into the car, he went straight to the backseat, put the bag of tea by his face and closed his eyes. He was getting too touchy, and just thinking about looking out at the traffic and hearing it, and smelling it, and the way the car would weave was making him nauseous.  
  
“Head hurts.” Probably from grinding his teeth.  
  
"Deep breaths," Gibbs said gently as he nosed the Charger into traffic.  "You can make it until after moonrise, just relax...easy."  
  
Once he got Tony home, he could keep his attention, keep him occupied until they had to go.  "You're doing fine."  
  
“Your definition of fine sucks, Jethro,” Tony growled, then pushed it down, feeling the skin over his spine jittering. He squeezed his eyes shut and took the recommended deep breaths, hating every one of them. He felt like he wanted to rip his own skin off, to bite anyone who got near.   
  
He was hanging onto his sanity through fear and the skin of his teeth.  
  
"Keep grousing like that and I'll make you drink that tea," Gibbs said, keeping it light as he took a few back roads to avoid the traffic.  "In through your nose, out through your mouth."  
  
Fate was with them again today, and he pulled into the driveway in less than forty minutes.  "Inside. Hit the shower and keep breathing."  He turned and reached back to touch him, anywhere he could. "I'll join you in a few minutes."  
  
Tony pulled himself up and out of the car, and barely made it to the bathroom before he was trembling all over, leaving his clothes in a heap, flexing his shoulders and turning on the water, setting the dials to something warm, something to take the tremor out of his body, if nothing else.  
  
He had to stay standing. He could do that. Moonrise was in five hours, his body knew. He could last it. He had to, he thought to himself, staring in the mirror.  
  
Gibbs took a few deep breaths of his own once he was inside.   _Home, den, peace._ He'd never shifted here until Tony had been attacked, and hadn't shifted here since.  There might be a wolf inside him, but he was still a man, even on the days of the full moon.  
  
He headed inside to show Tony that he was too.  
  
He stripped quickly and joined Tony in the bathroom.  "How you holding up?"  
  
Tony turned when Gibbs stepped into his space, pressing his face into Gibbs’ neck and breathed in deeply. He couldn’t make himself stop shaking, and it was horrifying. He hadn’t felt this off-balanced since he was recovering from the plague.  
  
“Feel like I’m gonna fall over.” It was a quiet confession into his skin. He’d thought about it, in the month since he’d been bitten. What it might be like. Nothing had prepared him for this.  
  
"You're all right." Gibbs held him close, hand in his hair to let him get his balance.  "You're doing fine.  It's always rough the first time, you'll get through it."  He stroked his hand down his back. "Just breathe. Keep it together."  He turned to kiss his temple.  "Who were the actors who have played James Bond? Can you tell me their names?"  
  
He could keep Tony thinking like a man until it was time to run.  
  
“Barry Nelson, David Niven, Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig,” Tony rattled off automatically, “Even though everyone assumes Sean Connery was the first, because he was the most iconic and everyone knows that Timothy Dalton was a fluke.”  
  
He looked up and kept the tremor from his voice if not his shoulders. “We could do a marathon this weekend.”  
  
"That sounds good.  You can show me the best ones in your collection." Gibbs smiled. "No Dalton."  
  
He leaned into the shower and turned on the water. At least the heat and steam would shut out the world for a while. "Come on. Get in. Gonna wake up dirty in the morning. Might as well get clean now."  
  
He tried to keep Tony talking, asking things that he knew Tony was passionate about, to give him a reason to push back the wolf for at least a few hours.  
  
Tony responded, disjointed and vague, but they were answers. Finally he just rolled his head into Gibbs’ wet chest and licked at him, sucking the water off and breathing him in. “I just wanna watch the movie where the guy doesn’t lose his shit and go furry and crazy. What if I can’t turn back? What if it’s like... selective craziness and the moon won’t even matter, I’ll just be feral.”  
  
"You'll be all right. You have me, and the whole pack to help you through this." Gibbs kissed his forehead.  "We've all been where you are now. We change, we run, we hunt and we sleep."  
  
He smiled. "It's kinda nice sometimes. You get to put your brain aside and let go for a while."  
  
It felt nice to wake up pressed up against the pack instead of alone in bed, too. At least, until he and Tony got together.  
  
“I have never put my brain in a box and... well. Okay. College doesn’t count,” he told him, hands sliding up Gibbs’ back, settling against him because Gibbs centered him more than Bond films, or talking or anything else. If Gibbs had him, he might get through it. And he liked curling up with him. It would be all right.  
  
“Hey, boss. Just... promise. All right? Just promise to keep me in line. Don’t let me hurt anyone.”  
  
Gibbs stroked his hand through Tony's wet hair. "I won't let you hurt anyone. Promise."  Then he gave him a little pop on the back of the head. "But you won't. The wolf doesn't want to kill. It wants to hunt. You'll be okay."  
  
Tony felt that ripple over his shoulders again, that sick little twist in his belly, and he took a long breath over it.  
  
“I’ll be okay.” Four hours. Just four. He stepped back and nodded, bending to grab the soap.  
  
“Never let it be said Tony DiNozzo would show to his own coming out party looking less than his best. Back duty, boss,” he ordered, handing it back to Gibbs and tipping his head all the way down, baring the back of his neck to him.  
  
Gibbs took the soap from him, then bent and kissed the nape of his neck. _I'll protect you. I promise._  He sucked the skin lightly before he leaned back and started scrubbing at his back. "We don't want that, now, do we?"  
  
He chuckled. "Gonna have to bring scrubby clothes tonight. Stuff you don't mind missing if someone finds it. Think you can handle showing up in sweats?"  
  
“Well, I definitely wasn’t planning on wearing Zegna.” He could feel the wolf under his skin, scratchy and impatient, coming up from his bones. “Good thing I’m skilled in looking great naked.”  
  
He pressed into Gibbs’ scrubbing hands and smiled as his fingers found the curves and dips of his back, the little ridges of scars.   
  
Gibbs grinned.  "You sure do look good naked."  He set the soap in the tray and slid his hands along Tony's hips. "You want a little distraction to help pass the time?" He wrapped one arm around his waist and stroked the other hand up his thigh.  
  
If anything, it would relax both of them until moonrise.  
  
Tony rolled his head onto Gibbs’ shoulder and smirked at him, his hands rubbing over his own belly and chest before he nipped at Jethro’s jaw. “Are you trying to distract me from nausea and terror with shower sex?? That’s devious. It’s actually... it’s sort of beautiful. I might cry, boss. Good job.”  
  
Tony wasn’t sure he could even get hard, at the moment, but it’d still be... well. Sex with Gibbs was never actually a hardship. He sort of liked when it killed all his higher brain function. “It could be arranged.”  
  
Gibbs nipped at Tony's shoulder and curled his fingers around him.  "Yeah? Let's see what we can arrange, then."  
  
He was excited; the moon did it to him, the promise of a night where he could just let go and enjoy himself.  Now he and Tony would experience it together, and that had him hard and pressed against him, his mouth all over his shoulders and neck.    
  
~*~  
  
The next time Tony had to think, he was panting, out of the shower, being toweled off by Gibbs. “Smug is a good look on you,” he said, stretching damply, feeling more settled in his bones as the moon came closer. He scratched at his belly and licked the bite mark on Gibbs’ shoulder. Even his stomach was calmer, the only scent in his nose _den_ and _Gibbs_ and it was very, very good.   
  
“... Good distraction, too,” he admitted, smiling against his skin. Gibbs corralled him to their bedroom for a couple hours of tossing sleep, some soothing kisses until he couldn’t lay still anymore, up and pacing around the house.    
  
Gibbs let him pace a bit, gathering the morning supplies (bottled water, chewy granola bars, clean wipes) and putting them in the usual duffle, and he pulled on the clothes he was going to wear to the site.  He glanced at the clock and then out to the car.  It was time.  
  
He was glad to have offered Tony the distraction. Even though he knew how hard this had to be for him, how those first hours and days had been awful, the chance to share this world with a partner?  
  
It felt _really_ good.  
  
He carried the duffle downstairs, along with a set of sweats for Tony.  "Hey," he called. "Time to go."  
  
“Fine! Coming. I can drive right? I’m driving, boss.” He knew it was a losing battle as soon as he opened his mouth, but he still had to try, nerves starting to claw up his throat again as he stepped out of the house. There were too many scents. Everywhere, people and their traces, their inherent... threat to his partner. To him.  
  
He growled without thinking.   
  
Gibbs watched him carefully on the way out to the car. "Easy. Keep it together."  The car would smell like them.  The pack would smell familiar, and Tony's first moon would be among friends. He opened the door for him, let him settle.  
  
The drive wouldn't take too long, not with the way he drove.  "Try to hang on until Bob and Janice are there.  There's a chance they're there already, because they know it's your first time."  
  
Tony buckled in and curled his hands over his knees, feeling the tug of the moon and turning his head till his neck cracked.  
  
Bob. Janice. Pack. He kept his head turned and pressed forward into Gibbs’ throat while he drove, breathing him in with an open mouth, heart pounding.  
  
“Can’t do this, can’t do this, boss,” he mumbled into his skin, biting for his attention. “I can’t do this. Don’t... take me back. I should be... somewhere else. Inside. Locked in. Gibbs.”  
  
"You _can_ do this. This is where you need to be. With the pack."  He tightened his fingers in Tony's shirt because he couldn't take his eyes off the road. "At my side. You got that? I'm here with you, every step of the way. Every step."  
  
He kissed the top of his head quickly.  "We're almost there. You've done better than I did when I was bitten, you can handle this tonight."  
  
Tony could feel it inside his bones, and it terrified him. Like he was losing a fight, like he was forgetting to breathe. He wrapped his hand around Gibbs’ in his shirt and focused on it.  
  
Gibbs found him. Always. In sewers and blown out cars, overseas and in the hospital. In godforsaken Baltimore. Gibbs would always find him. Save him. Ground him.  
  
“Can’t be worse than the plague, right?” He clenched his jaw tight, though, pulse rocketing, and he panted against Gibbs’ skin, sucking at it. Gibbs tasted differently, stronger. Hotter, with the moon peeking through the trees as they sped on to the park.  
  
“Gibbs... I need....”  
  
"I know. We're here, we're here."  Gibbs stopped the car, throwing it into park with a jolt for both of them.  "Come on. They're already here."  He knew they'd all be here early; they knew how hard it was to fight the first time.  
  
He pulled Tony out through the driver's door, wincing as his knee hit the horn once, but knew if he'd let him go at all he'd have changed in the car.  
  
The rest of the pack waited in various stages of undress, all of them smiling and waiting for them.  
  
Tony faltered behind him, watching them back through wide eyes, mouth open, still panting against Gibbs’ shoulder. He saw Janice and dipped his head, eyes low, and whined in the back of his throat to Jethro.  
  
“I need to... clothes off.” His tongue felt too thick in his mouth. Fingers clumsy, and he started pulling at Gibbs’ clothes. He needed closer. He needed to get everything off himself. It was too hot, too tight...   
  
"Come on, Tony, you too."  Gibbs let Tony pull at his clothes while he pulled at Tony's, and he nodded to the rest of the pack to join them.    
  
Carrie was first, and smiled at both of them. "Welcome, Tony."  She bumped his shoulder as she walked by, tugging the rest of her clothes off.  
  
Tobias next. "Gonna do fine, kid. Welcome."  
  
The others approached, one by one, offering smiles and warm touches until it was only Bob and Janice.  "Welcome, Tony."  Janice squeezed his shoulder. "I have cookies for wake-up tomorrow."  
  
Bob nodded to him. "Welcome. You stick with Jethro, with the pack, you'll do fine."  
  
Gibbs reached up to squeeze the back of his neck. "You're okay. Let it happen."  
  
Tony turned into the touches, nuzzling at shoulders in his turn and watched Gibbs with bleary eyes and bent at the waist, body twisting with a rush of heat through his veins.  
  
“Oh god. God, I--” He shouted, snarling at the new feeling. How two legs were suddenly not enough as the skin rippled over his body.  
  
He dropped  to his knees and stared at Gibbs, his vision slowly changing, the noise overwhelming his ears and then he crept forward, opened his mouth and...   
  
Everything was... pale. Gray. He whined out a noise and chased around behind his own back for the shadow there, then pushed into Gibbs’ legs.   
  
_Four legs. Four legs, and heartbeats spread across the field. Pack._  
  
Gibbs held back his own change until Tony's was done, and when the heavy bulk of him leaned against his legs, he smiled.  He was _beautiful_. His coat was thick and creamy white from paws to ribs, with a dark saddle and a grey mask and streak over his muzzle.  
  
He buried his fingers in the fur at Tony's neck and squeezed. "I gotcha, Tony," he said and, as the rest of the pack changed around them, he let his own wolf out to greet him that way too. One breath, another--  
  
 _He shoved his nose into his new packmate's ear, licking and whining. Welcome-happy-safe._  
  
 _Hungry._  
  
 _The others came too, to get his scent and to mingle their own with his, rubbing shoulders and nipping playfully._  
  
 _The Alpha pair howled, and they lifted their noses to rally the call._  
  
 _Time to hunt._  
  
Tony rubbed against them, rolling on the ground, and nipping back until the rally had him scrambling up, nose to the air with the others, howling loudly with them, shoulders pressed against his mates.   
  
_Home. Time to play._    
  
He pushed his snout against Gibbs’, lapping at it, chasing him in a circle.   
  
_Gibbs ran for Tony to chase him while the others cast about for the scent of prey. Not for long; they all needed their energy tonight. The pack was stronger now, could bring down larger prey._  
  
 _Soon one of the others raised the call again, and they were trotting off into the night.  Deer. The wolf smelled deer.  He knew his role - he was the heaviest, and the one that usually brought the prey down and held it by the nose until the others tore it open._  
  
 _Tony had speed. He'd be running up with Carrie, driving it until it was exhausted, once he got his feet under him._  
  
Tony followed the nudges, the cues, stumbling now and again, but rubbed his flank against Carrie as they scented, the fluffy-dew scent of deer. _Deer._  
  
He followed his nose and Carrie. And there it was, leaping away from them, and he yipped twice, as the rest of the pack split to herd it.   
  
They’d hunt, and eat and he’d give it to Gibbs. His parts, he couldn’t wait to give them to him.  
  
 _It was a young buck, still in velvet and panicked at the sight of the entire pack.  It was pup's play to herd it into a dead-end cliff wall, with Carrie and Tony chivvying it while the rest of the pack tore at its flanks and rump.   When it finally turned around, Gibbs was waiting to catch it by the muzzle, swinging his body to bring it down with a bruising crash of leaves and thrashing hooves.  
  
He held on while Bob and Janice tore into its belly, the rest of the pack closing in on the rest of it._  
  
Tony followed closely, dancing at their heels, waiting his turn. God, he was so hungry. Hungry and excited, and the whole pack was in on this. Their kill. Their food, their win.   
  
He knew he had to wait. That he was the new packmate, but he still wiggled up on his belly to lash Gibbs’ muzzle with his tongue, butt high in the air, wagging back and forth as he waited.  
  
 _Gibbs let go when the deer stopped thrashing and waited his turn as well. The deer was young, and they probably wouldn't get a lot once the pack had taken their fill.  He licked at Tony's muzzle when he bellied up to him, and nudged him towards the gap in the furry wall of hunger._  
  
 _Tobias was one of those rumps, making room for the new packmate.  Go. Eat._  
  
Tony followed his instructions, squeezing in next to Tobias and watching curiously, front paws bringing him closer and baring his teeth to sink in carefully, eyes on him all the while. He pulled at flesh slowly, depositing it between his paws, and licking at his muzzle meticulously.   
  
_Gibbs watched him dig in, nudged in himself to grab a strip of muscle and hide to eat as well. He wasn't growled away this time until everyone else had gorged, and that made him dig in with more enthusiasm._  
  
 _It wasn't long until the whole pack was lounging, cracking at the meaty bones and playing tug with the larger strips of hide.  The Alpha pair watched as each packmate lured Tony into a game of chase or tug, until they were ready to head back to the hollow not far from where they began._  
  
 _Gibbs mouthed at Tony's muzzle as yet again he brought a mouthful of the kill to lay between his paws.  He nudged a third of it back to Tony to eat, finally heaving to his paws and chasing him himself until he ate at least some of it with him._  
  
Tony ate, and chased and kept whining till Gibbs ate his gifts and then walked in a circle around him while he did, tail high and proud. He let the others play with him, nipping and panting excitedly in the late night air.   
  
Even Tobias gave chase, tumbling head over paws over a strip of hide neither wanted to let go.   
  
When they returned to the clearing, he laid on top of Gibbs, tail swinging madly as he licked at his ear. Bob and Janice had given him nudges, licks and welcomes.   
  
Good night. It was a good night.  
  
 _The jog back to the hollow was an easy lope and, with all of them gorged and sated, they curled into the leaves and undergrowth.  All of them came over to where Tony, Gibbs, and Tobias were settling in, offering one last welcome to the pack._  
  
 _It was a good hunt, a good night, and Gibbs rested his chin over Tony's shaggy shoulders as he drifted off._  
  
~*~  
  
Tony woke, with something like an acorn pushing into his ass, and Gibbs wrapped protectively around, blinking in the early dawn fog, running his tongue over his teeth. Oh god, he ate raw deer.  
  
But... he looked around at the other people in the hollow, cuddled in twos and threes and all within hands-reach. He’d made it. Hadn’t hurt anyone. Hadn’t _wanted_ to hurt anyone.  
  
He rolled in Gibbs’ arms and nudged at him, just a little chilled, and still so happy in the glow of it. “Made it, boss.”  
  
Gibbs came awake and smiled when Tony nudged him. "You sure did."  He kissed the corner of his mouth (no more than that until they'd _both_ brushed) and shifted position, grunting as the post-moon libido started in a little earlier.  "Nnngh."  
  
"Don't you two even," Tobias grunted from behind them. "Or no Janice cookies."  
  
Tony snarled over his shoulder harmlessly and nuzzled against Gibbs’ cheek and rubbed his full body against him, sort of thrilled to be alive and feeling the pull of last nights moon in his bones.  
  
“No one said cookies were dependent on lack of morning sex. Can’t add riders after the show,” he grumbled.  
  
Gibbs chuckled and reached down to swat Tony's ass lightly as the other members of the pack stirred awake. "Now you know why I came home all revved up," he said. "If I can make it back to you, you can make it back home for me."  
  
"And for cookies," piped Tobias.  
  
"Pizzelles!" called Carrie as Janice picked her way back to the group, already in a house dress and offering the homemade treats to the rest of them.  
  
"Everyone let Tony know how happy we are to have him?" Janice looked around, and the others waved, the powdered sugar already on their fingers and lips.   
  
"Hope we didn't scare you off." Bob nodded to him.  "That was some nice work last night, with Carrie."  
  
Tony sat up, pulling his knees up and covering himself with one hand and taking a cookie with another, munching on it docilely, smiling around at everyone, waving back.  
  
“These are... oh. Janice.” He looked at her with one hand on his chest. “Janice. Your recipe. This is...” He licked his fingers and then took the one for Gibbs, broke it in half and gave him the piece, stuffing the other into his mouth.  
  
“You’re my favorite,” he said through a full mouth.  
  
Gibbs nibbled at the sweet, crumbly pastry, reached over to tousle Tony's hair. "What do you think? You seem pretty pleased with yourself. Think you can get used to this?"  
  
The team at work gave Tony one family.  The pack could give him another, and he'd be there with him in both, and take him to bed every night.  
  
Tony let him ruffle for a moment but pulled back to push it into place as much as he could without a mirror or a hope for success and licked the powdered sugar off his fingers.   
  
“Think you’re stuck with me,” he shrugged apologetically, smiling all the while. If he didn’t think too hard about chunks of raw deer, he was just fine. He leaned over to where Tobias was hoarding cookies and tried to steal a couple more.   
  
Gibbs smiled at him around the powdered sugar as Tobias slapped the questing fingers away, and then Bob clapped his hands to get their attention.  
  
"All right, park's gonna be open soon. Let's get our bare asses back in clothes and on the way before the rangers find us.  See you at the barbecue next week. This time it's at Gibbs's place."  
  
The rest of them got to their feet and started picking their way back to their cars, calling farewells to Tony.  Even Tobias had a smile for them.  "You did good, DiNozzo. We'll see if you can get his place ready for a party."  
  
Gibbs went into their car and offered Tony a pair of sweats to cover up.  "We got a week. I think we can handle it."  He kissed his shoulder. "Ready to go?"    
  
His erection might have faded, but it wouldn't be long before it made a reappearance.  
  
Tony stretched when he stood, pulling on the pants and scratching his belly free of the dirt. It was strange, being hugged goodbye, or patted or nuzzled but...   
  
He smiled quietly at Gibbs as they made their way to the car, and he felt like his bones had settled. Like he’d found a perfect balance. “I’m ready.”   
  
And he was.  
  
Gibbs accepted the hugs with an easy smile, and the ride home went by in mostly contented silence, with his fingers loosely laced with Tony's.    
  
It felt _good_ , he realized as they pulled into the driveway.  He'd been happy that Tony had adjusted to having a lycanthrope lover, but now?  They were packmates as well as partners, and it settled something inside him like nothing else had since before he lost his girls.  
  
He pulled Tony into his arms when they got in the door, tucking his nose underneath his ear.  He didn't know quite what to say, so he let the touch and closeness say most of it for him.   _Love you. Love this. Home with you._  "You did good," he whispered. "Proud of you."  
  
Tony settled into his chest easily, chin over his shoulder. He did feel warm, settled... at peace, in a way he hadn’t before. Ever. He soaked in Gibbs’ praise like he always had, probably, hopefully, always would, and squeezed him close, hands on cotton-covered hips.  
  
“Thanks for... keeping it all in line.” For not breaking that promise. For keeping him safe. Even from himself. “Love you, boss.”  
  
Gibbs kissed his neck, then his temple, stroking his hand over his hair. "Love you, Tony."  He pulled back to look at him, shoulders relaxed and oh, that smile.  "Let's get that shower."  He smiled back at him. "Then I think some sex. And then...well, that's as far as I'm thinking right now.  Sound good?"  
  
“Well, I’m definitely thinking ahead, past all that to kicking your ass out of bed when the takeout gets here. Definitely pizza. And a lot of it. And then you promised me a Bond marathon. Don’t think you can get out of it that easily.”  
  
He closed his eyes, leaning into that touch and sighed, body loose and safe in their den. “That’s all I want,” he decided, turning his head to kiss Gibbs’ palm. “I think it sounds great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading along! This was posted on LJ, and was one of my favorite stories that piwrit_queen/pirate-rhino and I wrote together, so I figured it was the best one to inaugurate my AO3 account :)
> 
> Any future stories in this 'verse will be time stamps and one shots - due to fandom shift, I don't think we have it in us for another long story arc, but we still love them.


End file.
